Stephan joined Vivici as CEO in March 2023, bringing 20 years of experience in the biotech industry to the role. Prior to that he led the Dairy Cultures & Food Enzymes business unit at IFF, building on the experience gained in the food enzymes business at Novozymes. Stephan has worked in and helped scale two start-ups: Evolva, a company producing high-value natural products through fermentation, and Biognosys, an advanced protein analytics company. Stephan is a senior strategic leader passionate about building organizations that innovate with purpose, whether they are start-ups or large market leaders. In his tenure in the biotechnology and food industry Stephan has gained experience across sales, marketing, business development, R&D and business unit leadership. Stephan holds a Master in Protein Engineering and PhD in Biotechnology from the ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and an MBA from the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland).