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Ken Barrett entered the industrial biotech sector when he joined Diversa’s BD team in August 2006, responsible for supporting Diversa’s commercialization strategy with a focus on developing internal capabilities and launching new products. At Diversa/Verenium, he led several commercialization projects and partnerships, including those in bioenergy, oilseed processing, animal feed, detergents, and oilfield services. After the BASF acquisition he continued managing the BD team. Upon the creation of the BASF Enzymes business unit in 2018, Ken was tapped to lead 3rd Party Business Management and Collaborations, with a specific focus on managing 3rd party collaborations in animal feed enzymes that had to be “firewalled” from the BASF animal nutrition business. Ken’s general focus in industrial biotech has been to translate cutting edge science into profitable commercial business opportunities, either through organic development or via external partnerships.

Prior to BASF, Ken was a co-Founder and Managing Director of Trident Partners, LLC, a private equity and management firm focused on small and medium sized businesses. Before that, he served as a consultant at Bain & Company. He began his career at Mitsubishi Motors Corporation in 1989 in Japan, where he spent five years and learned Japanese.

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Ken received a M.S. in Applied Biosciences from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, a M.B.A. degree from Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts and a B.A. in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.