RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PURE Bioscience, Inc. (OTCQB: PURE), creator of the patented non-toxic silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC) antimicrobial, today announced the addition of three new members to the Board of Directors with the election of Kristin A. Taylor, David M. Rendall and Tom Myers. Ms. Taylor and Mr. Rendall also will serve on the audit and compensation committees of the Board of Directors. PURE also is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Scott Harris and Dr. Martin Wiedmann to the Scientific Advisory Board.
New Members of Board of Directors
Kristin A. Taylor is an accomplished technology executive with over 20 years of experience that includes VP and Director roles at leading tech companies. In May 2020, Ms. Taylor was named President and CEO of ImageWare Systems, Inc., a software SaaS leader in biometric identification and authentication for state, local, federal governments, including law enforcement/public safety, as well as commercial businesses in the financial, healthcare, education, manufacturing and call center verticals. Prior to serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of ImageWare Systems, Ms. Taylor was a strategy consultant providing advisory services on communications, marketing, and analyst relations for Veritas Lux and Kristin A. Taylor Consulting, in which she developed a proprietary algorithmic methodology to weigh and rank the most influential global technical analysts. From September 2017 to April 2019, Ms. Taylor served as Vice President of Worldwide Analyst Relations at IBM and led the efforts to modernize and transform IBM’s Analyst Relations organization to drive not only influence but materialize revenue. From August 2013 to August 2017, she served as Vice President, Global Analyst and Public Relations at MediaTek, the third largest fabless semiconductor company worldwide with a $49 billion market cap, where she led the buildout of a new global Public and Analyst Relations organization to penetrate the North American, European, Latin American, Russian and Indian markets. Prior to that, from September 1998 to December 2010, she served in various positions of increasing responsibility with Qualcomm, including Head of Industry Analyst Relations, Senior Director of Business Development, and as a Director in Information Technology. During her tenure with Qualcomm, she drove development and launched the world’s first embedded wireless WAN module inside of notebook computers that resulted in the creation of a new corporate division for computing, with Gobi becoming a core element of 300+ product offerings. In October 2020, she was named to the Top 50 Women Leaders in SaaS by The Software Report. In November 2020, Ms. Taylor was appointed the Chairperson of the Board of ImageWare Systems. She earned degrees in business management and sociology from the University of New Hampshire.
David M. Rendall is an attorney and licensed real estate broker in the state of California. Mr. Rendall has been the broker and owner of RE/MAX of Santa Clarita, RE/MAX of Valencia, and RE/MAX Gateway since February 2014. Mr. Rendall manages approximately 175 agents and has annual sales of about $1 billion. He is the owner of Group One Investments, Inc., a licensed real estate property management and real estate investment firm specializing in commercial management and real estate syndication and development. He currently sits on the Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation board and is the Chief Executive Officer of Escrow Advantage, Inc., an independent escrow company. Mr. Rendall also is the general partner, owner, president, managing member, and/or member of multiple businesses and real estate partnerships. In addition to his real estate companies, he is the Principal and Partner of Group One Legal, PC. Mr. Rendall has been practicing real estate since 2001 and law since 2003, when he was admitted to the state bar of California. Mr. Rendall earned a J.D. from Loyola Law School and a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology from the University of California at Los Angeles. He also was an adjunct professor at College of the Canyons, where he taught courses called Real Estate Principles, Real Estate Practices, and Legal Aspects of Real Estate.
Tom Myers has served as the Chief Operating Officer of PURE since October 2018. He previously served as Executive Vice President, Technical Support Services and in other roles after joining PURE in 2011. Mr. Myers has over 40 years of food industry experience focusing on operations management, quality control and assurance, research and development, product and process development, plant design and construction, food safety and regulatory compliance. Prior to joining PURE, Mr. Myers served as the President and Principal of Idaho Milk Products, where he built a $105 million green field dairy proteins plant and launched a worldwide business with annual revenues in excess of $200 million. Mr. Myers has also held executive management roles at Weider Nutrition International, Puritan Quartz Pharmaceuticals, FruitSource Associates and FruitSource Confections, Nancy’s Specialty Foods, Izaki Glico and Berkshire Hathaway Corporation (See’s Candies and See’s Candy Shops). Mr. Myers holds a bachelor’s degree from California State University at Long Beach.
“I am pleased to welcome Kristin, David and Tom to the Board of Directors. Kristin has experience in Fortune 500 and micro-cap business along with extensive knowledge of sales, business development, public relations, marking and go-to-market strategies. David possesses substantial managerial and business expertise, including the sales and marketing experience necessary to help lead the Company through various stages of potential development and growth. Tom brings to the board a wealth of executive leadership experience and unsurpassed knowledge of all aspects of PURE’s products and business. The team at PURE looks forward to leveraging Kristin, David and Tom’s unique skillsets to help drive the future growth of the Company,” said Tom Y. Lee, Chief Executive Officer.
New Members of Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Scott Harris is an accomplished environmental health and safety professional with over 30 years of experience in the private sector, in federal and state regulatory agencies and more recently as an adjunct professor of Environmental Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He currently holds the position of President of Environmental Quality Management, a national environmental consulting, engineering and remediation service provider to the government and private sectors. “Having spent my career committed to protecting public health and welfare, I am keenly aware of the need for a safe, effective disinfection solution and the many challenges in finding one that actually does what we need with maximum results and minimal issues,” said Dr. Harris.
Dr. Martin Wiedmann is currently the Gellert Family Professor of Food Safety at Cornell University. He has authored over 400 peer-reviewed publications, which have been cited over 25,000 times. He and his team have received multiple awards from leading institutions for advancing food safety for over two decades. He received his doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and his Ph.D. in food science from Cornell University. Dr. Wiedmann stated, “I am excited to serve on the PURE Bioscience Scientific Advisory Board as I recognize the key importance of improved and innovative sanitation procedures to improve food safety and quality.”
“We are pleased to have Dr. Scott Harris and Dr. Martin Wiedmann join our Scientific Advisory Board. Scott’s experience with the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal and state regulatory agencies is invaluable in providing technical oversight and advice in supporting our efforts and technology. Martin has been a leader in food science for over two decades. We look forward to working with Martin to leverage his extensive food safety experience to help drive PURE’s food to table food safety commitment. Both Scott and Martin and our other technical advisors will help guide and further advance PURE’s current and future technical programs,” said Tom Myers, PURE’s Chief Operating Officer.
About PURE Bioscience, Inc.
PURE Bioscience, Inc. is focused on developing and commercializing our proprietary antimicrobial products primarily in the food safety arena -- providing solutions to the health and environmental challenges of pathogen and hygienic control. Our technology platform is based on patented, stabilized ionic silver, and our initial products contain silver dihydrogen citrate, or SDC. SDC is a broad-spectrum, non-toxic antimicrobial agent, which offers 24-hour residual protection and formulates well with other compounds. As a platform technology, SDC is distinguished from existing products in the marketplace because of its superior efficacy, reduced toxicity and mitigation of bacterial resistance. PURE is headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California (San Bernardino metropolitan area). Additional information on PURE is available at www.purebio.com.
Forward-looking Statements: Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this press release concerning the Company’s expectations, plans, business outlook or future performance, and any other statements concerning assumptions made or expectations as to any future events, conditions, performance or other matters, are “forward-looking statements.” Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the Company’s failure to implement or otherwise achieve the benefits of its proposed business initiatives and plans; economic and other disruptions resulting from COVID-19; acceptance of the Company’s current and future products and services in the marketplace, including the Company’s ability to convert successful evaluations and tests for PURE Control and PURE Hard Surface into customer orders and customers continuing to place product orders as expected and to expand their use of the Company’s products; the Company’s ability to maintain relationships with its partners and other counterparties; the Company’s ability to generate sufficient revenues and reduce its operating expenses in order to reach profitability; the Company’s ability to raise the funding required to support its continued operations and the implementation of its business plan; the ability of the Company to develop effective new products and receive required regulatory approvals for such products, including the required data and regulatory approvals required to use its SDC-based technology as a direct food contact processing aid; competitive factors, including customer acceptance of the Company’s SDC-based products that are typically more expensive than existing treatment chemicals; dependence upon third-party vendors, including to manufacture its products; and other risks detailed in the Company’s periodic report filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), including its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2020 and Form 10-Q for the first fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2020. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.
