Jun 8, 2023
Allan sees role at Certis as one of creating connections
Mike Allan sees his newly created role with biotechnology company Certis Biologicals as a chance to drive innovation and foster collaboration.
“The business development role is something that has been really long awaiting fulfillment within Certis,” said Allan, named the Columbia, Maryland-based biotechnology company’s vice president of business development and licensing in late 2022. “We’ve not had a dedicated role to this at least as long as I’ve been with the company.”
Allan joined Certis Biologicals in 2018 as vice president, North America.
With operations in more than 50 countries, Certis develops, manufactures and markets biological solutions for use in commercial agriculture, professional greenhouse and consumer markets.
An emphasis of Allan’s new role is to forge partnerships to advance the use of biologicals — products derived from naturally occurring microorganisms, plant extracts, beneficial insects or other organic matter.
“The adoption rate in use of biologicals in the marketplace continues to grow exponentially,” Allan said. “The projected growth over the next five, six, seven years into double digits only emphasizes the need to be able to prioritize and implement the new products, but also the new technologies that are coming in that only enhance the ability for biological products to perform in the field.
“We are constantly approached by various companies of different size and abilities and technology status, and this role is a means to be able to coordinate a role internally to evaluate those opportunities and how best to be able to drive them to a commercial space.”
Certis, with operations in more than 50 countries, develops, manufactures and markets biological solutions for us in commercial agriculture, professional greenhouse and consumer markets. It offers more than 30 Organic Materials Review-listed products, with biopesticides including herbicides and fungicides.
In February, the company announced distribution across all 50 states of its microbial fungicide SoilGard.
“There is staggering investment in the agriculture space right now, and biologicals are at the forefront of many of those innovation efforts,” Amy O’Shea, president and CEO at Certis Biologicals said. “With our strong commitment to science, the internal innovation possible at our laboratory facilities, and our access to the market, we believe that we are a strong partner for emerging technology players. Mike’s industry breadth and respect will be key in leveraging these strengths for the overall growth of the sector.”
