Chief executive appointed for NZ’s first biofactory
Bart Challis has more than 25 years of international and domestic experience in commercialising science.
Bart Challis was most recently chief commercial officer at the Kiwifruit Breeding Centre.
New Zealand’s first biofactory has appointed its first chief executive to get the facility up and running.
Bart Challis has more than 25 years of international and domestic experience in commercialising science and will lead a team based at the new facility in Rotorua, with its first stage scheduled to open in mid-2026.
The commercial-scale shared facility will transform biomass feedstocks into high-value biomaterials.
Challis was most recently chief commercial officer at the Kiwifruit Breeding Centre and is a former CEO of Forest Growers Research and chief operating officer at Scion.
He returned to New Zealand in 2014 following a 15-year career in the UK, Europe and US, where he held senior commercial roles in multinational organisations on the cutting edge of scientific research into new drugs and diseases.
Challis said he looked forward to taking up the role on November 24, progressing the establishment of the biofactory with an eye to supporting the Government’s goal of doubling New Zealand’s primary sector revenue by 2034.
New Zealand businessman and manufacturing expert Steve Wilson will be the chair of the interim board as the BioFactory is established.
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