Randall Marcuson, former CEO of Embrex, Inc. (acquired by Pfizer Animal Health in 2007) will be honored with the CED Biotechnology Leadership Award at CED's Biotech Conference on Tuesday, February 23, 2010. During a special lunch presentation, Dr. Charles Hamner will present the award to Marcuson for his significant contributions to the agricultural biotech industry in North Carolina.

Embrex, Inc. was a publicly traded agricultural biotechnology company dedicated to the development of in ovo (“in the egg�) solutions for the poultry industry. The flagship product was the Inovoject System, which was the first automated system to successfully vaccinate chicks before hatching. Under Marcuson, Embrex reached revenues of nearly $55M, tapping into more than 90% of the production of chickens raised for meat in the United States with its Inovoject System. Marcuson led the “home grown� publicly traded NC company for seventeen years before its acquisition to Pfizer Animal Health for $155m in January 2007.

The CED Biotechnology Leadership Award was first presented to Dr. Charles Hamner in 2002 for his contributions to the development of the biotechnology industry in North Carolina.