BEIJING, CHINA — Joe Ramelli has been promoted to vice president of business development at Origin Agritech Ltd. He will play a key role as Origin seeks to expand the production capability and building a supply chain for its nutrition enhanced corn hybrids.

Ramelli most recently was director of investor relations at Origin since July 2020. Prior to Origin he was chief executive officer of Marina Biotech. He also has worked as an analyst at Eos Holdings, an investment fund that was an early investor in Chinese companies listing in the United States. Earlier, he was an analyst at Robert W. Duggan & Associates.

“It is an ideal time to have Joe leading our business development,” said Gangchen Han, chairman of Origin Agritech. “We not only have great opportunities in the GMO corn seed business, but also tremendous potential creating a fully integrated corn feed/food supply chain in China, which is a business opportunity in the tens of billions of dollars.”

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Zhong-Guan-Cun Life Science Park in Beijing, Origin Agritech is a leading Chinese agricultural technology company. Over the years, Origin has established a robust biotechnology seed pipeline, including products with glyphosate tolerance and pest resistance (Bt) traits.