Dr. Hong Yan, Chief Scientific Officer
He has both biological science training (PhD, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, 1989) and business training (MBA, National University of Singapore, 2001). He moved to Singapore from US in 1993 and joined the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology as a postdoctoral fellow and has led an independent research group in Institute of Molecular Agrobiology since 1998 (later in Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory) on translational plant research areas like biotech crop development, forestry biotechnology, herbal medicine, bioenergy plant and new technology development. He has 8 patents and many peer reviewed publications. Technology development in his group contributed to the formation of two spin off companies. He is also an adjunct Associate Professor with Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
He joined JOil (S) Pte Ltd in 2008. Prior to that, he served as a Director for Bioforest Pte Ltd (a company on tropical forestry biotechnology) from 2006 to 2009
Dr. Srinivasan Ramachandran, Chief Technology Officer
He obtained his PhD in Biochemistry with Plant Molecular Biology as specialization from University of Idaho, USA under the guidance of Prof David Oliver. In 1993, he joined Prof Nam Hai Chua’s group at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology , later at the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology, Singapore.
He headed the group of Rice Functional Genomics at Institute of Molecular Biology since 2001 and since 2002 at Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, Singapore. Also since 2007 leading a group at the Center for Bioenergy Plants, at Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. He has several peer reviewed publications and patents to his credit. He is also focusing on improving sweet sorghum plants through biotechnology.
Srinivasan Sriram, Chief Financial Officer
Sriram is an MBA in Finance and has about 20 years of in-depth experience in various areas. He worked with the Tata Group in India for more than 14 years and was seconded to JOil in September 2009, as GM (Strategy & Marketing). Before moving to JOil, Sriram was heading the biofuels division of Tata Chemicals Ltd., and was instrumental in setting up various agro-climatic research sites for Jatropha in India and Africa. He also played a lead role in setting up a bioethanol plant in India and in participating in various international projects. His expertise is in finance, strategy and marketing.