Draft:John G. Melo

John G. Melo, (born March 5, 1966), is a Portuguese serial entrepreneur and a key figure in the industrialization of Synthetic biology. He is the CEO of PIPA LLC. , Digestiva, and the CEO, Founder, and Board Member of biorbis. He is the former CEO of Amyris Inc, a synthetic biotechnology and renewable chemicals company. He is the founder of Biossance and co-founder of Rose Inc, Stripes, and other consumer brands in the Health & Wellness markets.

Melo led the development of the Clean Beauty category and led the development of over 1,000 SKU’s. Melo also led the development of over 12 molecules produced from fermentation, during his time at Amyris, including vanillin, natural sweeteners, cannabinoids, and a leading non-petroleum precursor to vitamin E. In addition, Melo led the development and invention of new molecules including hemisqualane and fermentation-based squalene as an adjuvant for vaccines.

Early life and education
John Melo was born on March 5, 1966 in Azores, Portugal. He has a brother, two daughters and a son.

Melo attended ealy schooling in the Azores and went to high school in Silicon Valley. He completed several executive development courses at Harvard Business school and Stanford University GSB.

Melo has been recognized by the Portuguese government with The Order of Merit of the Portuguese Royal House as a commander for his services and contribution as an entrepreneur and industrialist to society.

Business career
In his early career Melo was member of the founding leadership teams at several tech startups in the automotive industries these included Alldata and Computer Aided Services (CAS). He also worked at Allen Testproducts as a market manager and at Ernst &Young as a director.

BP
Melo started his career at BP through Amoco Oil in Chicago, Illinois. After his start leading a strategic business unit at Amoco, he remained with BP after the merger of both companies.

At BP, he was part of the team that rebranded BPAmoco to the new BP, worked as a senior advisor to the CEO of BP on all things Internet and led the systems and process integration of over $100B in mergers and acquisitions as the Chief Information Officer of the Global Downstream. Melo then became President of the largest business unit in the Downstream of BP where he led a business transformation.

Amyris Inc.

John Melo joined Amyris Inc. in 2007 as CEO and led its 2010 Initial Public Offering (IPO) followed by a large-scale production and industrialization of 12 fermentation molecules that impact over 400 million consumers every day. Circa 2016, Melo drove the Amyris’ shift from a renewable biofuel company into a clean beauty portfolio company with the launch of award-winning consumer brands: Biossance and Pipette.

Melo led the development and scale of 12 molecules including the Reb M sweetener molecule and the precursor to artemisinin, the world's leading antimalarial treatment. The artemisinic acid yeast strain was licensed to Sanofi on a royalty-free basis via OneWorld Health, resulting in the delivery of millions of treatments to people in need.

In February 2023, Givaudan acquired a cosmetic ingredient portfolio from Amyris including Neossance Squalane and the plant-based silicon alternative Neossance Hemisqualane. Amyris’ sustainable alternative to shark squalene adjuvant received an honorable mention on Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas

PIPA LLC

John Melo joined AI tech company PIPA LLC as CEO on November 3, 2023.