Crop research institute NIAB EMR has named Professor Mario Caccamo as its new managing director.
Caccamo will take over from current MD David Neill in April 2017, who will return to his former role of chief operating officer at NIAB’s Cambridgeshire base.
The news comes as NIAB EMR said it will now focus on its commercial growth strategy, following a period of transition after EMR was acquired by NIAB.
NIAB CEO Tina Barsby said: “Since the acquisition of East Malling Research in February 2016, and the creation of NIAB EMR, we have focused on maintaining income growth and introducing the organisational changes required to ensure NIAB EMR remains at the forefront of independent applied horticultural research in the UK and worldwide.
“We now want to focus on our research and commercial growth strategy, realising the opportunities offered by the wider NIAB Group. Mario will play a key role in this evolution, bringing energy and scientific leadership to the role and driving forward our ambitious research strategy.”
A computer science graduate, Caccamo joined NIAB in 2015 as head of crop bioinformatics. He will continue in this role, leading NIAB’s expanding bioinformatics and agri-data activities, in addition to his new position at NIAB EMR.
He said: “The research opportunities in the horticulture sector both nationally, focused on UK crops, and internationally, working with scientific organisations in the developing world, have never been greater.
“NIAB EMR’s world-class scientists are already leading in the application of novel solutions for horticulture and I am very excited about the opportunity to lead this team to even greater achievements.”
