Dyadic Appoints Joe Hazelton as President, Seizes on Biomanufacturing Reshoring

• Dyadic International announces leadership change and strategic shift. • Joe Hazelton appointed President and COO. • Focus on revenue-generating ancillary protein products. • Geopolitical tailwinds to drive reshoring of biomanufacturing supply chains.

JUPITER, Fla., June 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dyadic International, Inc. (Nasdaq: DYAI) today announced a significant leadership change and strategic shift aimed at focusing on revenue-generating ancillary protein products. The company appointed Joe Hazelton as President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective immediately. Mr. Hazelton will continue to serve as COO, overseeing the scaling of Dyadic’s scientific and commercial initiatives, industry partnerships, and operational efficiency.

Over the past 18 months, Dyadic has made a deliberate pivot to prioritize near-term commercialization opportunities in high-growth, high-value segments such as cell culture media, DNA/RNA technologies, and non-animal food and nutrition ingredients. This strategic shift has achieved commercial validation through key partnerships, including a develop-and-commercialize partnership with Proliant Health and Biologicals for recombinant human albumin, a collaboration with a non-animal dairy enzyme company, and a joint venture with Fermbox Bio that led to the launch of EN3ZYME, recently resulting in a significant purchase order in the cellulosic enzyme market.

“We believe the achievement of these milestones validates our strategy and reflects the growing demand for ancillary recombinant proteins,” said Mark Emalfarb, Dyadic’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “We previously communicated an initial focus in the ancillary protein space, we have successfully executed on key initial agreements, and now we are reaffirming that focus by aligning our leadership team to accelerate growth. Joe’s appointment as President ensures focused and prioritized execution across Dyadic’s technical, operational, and commercial efforts.”

Joe Hazelton brings over two decades of leadership in biotech commercialization, with a proven track record at both Dyadic and Novartis. As President, he will guide Dyadic’s corporate rebranding efforts and oversee the execution of the business strategy. Dyadic’s C1 and Dapibus™ platforms, central to its recent commercial successes, will continue to underpin the company’s strategy, offering differentiated, large-scale, high-titer production of recombinant proteins across targeted non-therapeutic markets.

While the majority of Dyadic’s focus will be on the ancillary protein opportunity, legacy biopharmaceutical programs remain active. Mr. Emalfarb will continue to oversee their development in addition to his focus on funding/investment opportunities, IP strategy, and legacy projects.

Dyadic is well-positioned to seize geopolitical tailwinds driving reshoring/friendshoring of biomanufacturing supply chains to the United States and allies abroad. The company’s microbial gene expression and protein production platforms are based on the highly productive and scalable fungus Thermothelomyces heterothallica. These platforms are designed to support a wide range of applications, including life sciences, food, nutrition, wellness, and internal biological products with a secondary focus on human and animal vaccines and therapeutics.

References:
[1] https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/DYADIC-INTERNATIONAL-INC-57599342/news/Dyadic-Announces-Leadership-Change-as-Part-of-Ongoing-Strategic-Shift-to-Focus-on-High-Demand-Ancil-50130730/
[2] https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/06/02/3091869/0/en/Dyadic-Announces-Leadership-Change-as-Part-of-Ongoing-Strategic-Shift-to-Focus-on-High-Demand-Ancillary-Proteins-for-Life-Sciences-Nutrition-and-Industrial-Applications.html