Checkerspot Announces New CEO, John Krzywicki

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--John Krzywicki has been named as the next leader of Checkerspot, a biotech pioneer of Microalgae technologies. The announcement follows a string of successful laboratory and commercial developments at Checkerspot in the food and nutrition spaces, which John helped lead.

“Checkerspot’s mission at the outset was to identify the most promising applications to achieve rapid adoption and growth of our algal technologies,” said founder and Chief Scientific Officer Scott Franklin, PhD. “With the support of John and a focused team, we’ve done that, matching the innovations coming out of our molecular foundry with increasing consumer awareness and demand. John’s leadership brings renewed focus, which is coupled with strong market validation. He’s the right person at the right time.”

John previously oversaw the creation and rapid growth of Spotlight®, a division of Checkerspot which develops cooking fats and oils using the platform technology. In less than a year Spotlight® Algae Oil, including a strategic partnership with “Algae Cooking Club,” have become some of the best selling alternative oils in the culinary world, and are now staples in a number of Michelin-starred kitchens.

“The applications for Checkerspot’s market-ready technology, particularly within food and nutrition supply chains, are incredibly intriguing. Scott and the molecular foundry have decades of experience tailoring molecular solutions to some of the most challenging problems we face,” said Krzywicki. “Our task moving forward is to implement those solutions at scale, working with both new and familiar partners to realize our technology’s potential.”

Checkerspot will focus specifically on the development and licensing of microalgal strains that can produce high impact fats, oils and materials, moving away from developing brands from whole cloth that animate these technologies.

“We’ve refined our model significantly so that we can focus on providing partners with a specific set of solutions to their ingredient and material needs,” said Krzywicki. “The market is clearly asking for our solutions and we’re orienting our business to be hyper-efficient in providing them.”

ABOUT CHECKERSPOT

Checkerspot is a pioneering biotechnology company and Certified B Corporation™ that develops high value triglyceride fats and oils not easily or sustainably sourced from nature, at commercially relevant scale & cost, providing market-ready ingredients critical to meeting our nutritional needs at every phase of life and materials for a healthier planet.

Find More information on our proven technologies at Checkerspot.com.