Former AgriGenesis head takes top job at UniServices

By SIMON COLLINS

High-flying biotech executive Peter Lee has landed on his feet after taking redundancy from Genesis Research and Development, winning the top job at Auckland University's commercial arm UniServices.

Lee, 54, will take over from UniServices' founding chief executive, Dr John Kernohan, on January 17. Kernohan announced his retirement after 16 years last week.

Raised and educated in Auckland, Lee spent 27 years in the US and rose to be vice-president of research and development for International Paper before returning last year to head Genesis' plant-based subsidiary, AgriGenesis.

He took redundancy in September after the company failed to raise the capital it needed to fund AgriGenesis and laid off more than half of the subsidiary's staff of about 50.

Lee said his International Paper experience had taught him the benefits for business of working with researchers.

At the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, discussions with Motorola and others sparked the idea of tracking parcels through computer chips placed in the packaging.

"It was a stimulating environment that my staff and I were able to participate in and some really brilliant ideas came out of that," he said.

"That idea - that collateral thinking between seemingly unrelated industries can be brought together in a university environment - is something that I hope can happen here."