Amyris Inc. (NASDAQ: AMRS) shares dropped on Monday after the firm announced that it would shuffling the deck among its senior management. On one hand, it can be good to get new eyes and a new perspective on the business, On the other, a company might lose an executive with incredible experience.

Specifically, Amyris announced the appointment of Oreste Fieschi as president of Sweeteners & Ingredients, to lead the commercial growth of its sweetener business and the implementation of its strategy to build capability across the entire ingredients portfolio.

Fieschi has a successful track record in commercial leadership roles in the food and beverage and natural ingredients sectors, along with deep expertise in global markets.

John Melo, Amyris president and chief executive, commented:

We welcome Oreste to Amyris at an inflection point when our businesses are experiencing solid, recurring revenue growth. His proven experience as a successful leader in the markets we are growing, gives us a significant advantage toward maximizing the real opportunities ahead of us for revenue growth through key partnerships for our No Compromise ingredients.

Last week, Amyris announced a new development, licensing and commercialization agreement with a confidential partner. Overall, this partnership is valued at up to $255 million (not including significant royalties once the products are commercialized). Under the terms of the agreement, the $255 million includes an upfront payment and the remainder is linked to milestones that are expected over the next 12 to 36 months following the signing of a definitive final agreement. In addition to lab-based milestone payments, this agreement also provides for significant milestone payments for commercially scaling each product.

Shares of Amyris were last seen down 8% at $5.24 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $2.64 to $9.29. The consensus analyst price target is $9.50.

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