MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S. — William F. Koschak has been named chief financial officer (CFO) of Calyxt, Inc., effective Jan. 7. He will succeed Eric Dutang, who had been serving as interim CFO. Dutang will remain chairman of Cellectis, the parent company of Calyxt.

Koschak has more than 25 years of corporate, finance and accounting leadership, having spent most of the past 10 years as an operating or corporate CFO. Most recently, he was vice-president of finance for the Brain Therapies business unit of Medtronic and also served as interim vice-president and general manager for one of the units of Brain Therapies for several months.

Prior to Medtronic, Koschak was CFO at Young America Holdings. Earlier, he spent nearly 10 years at General Mills, Inc., serving as vice-president of global internal audit, vice-president of finance, vice-president of financial reporting, and senior director of financial reporting. Before joining General Mills, he was a partner at KPMG where he focused on complex financial matters and financial trading, investment banking and lending businesses.

He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Augsburg College.

“Bill’s impressive professional background, especially his extensive experience in the consumer-packaged goods and food service industries, brings a unique combination of skills that will be crucial to the team as we advance towards commercialization of our first food ingredient, our high-oleic soybean oil,” said James A. Blome, chief executive officer of Calyxt. “We look forward to working with Bill as we move into a new and exciting year for Calyxt, and continue toward our mission to make the food Americans love a healthier choice.”

Last fall, Calyxt announced it had completed the inaugural harvest of its high-fiber wheat product, the world’s first gene-edited, consumer-focused wheat product.