Origin Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED) announced the appointment of Dr. Jian Zhang as an independent board member and the reappointment of Dr. Z. James Chen as Chief Financial Officer, both effective March 20, 2026.

Dr. Zhang, 62, brings over two decades of experience in crop biotechnology from positions at DuPont Pioneer, Syngenta, and BASF. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of ChinaAg JiaNuo Seed Science and Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and previously held roles including Chief Technology Officer of Syngenta Group China Seed Business. Dr. Zhang holds a Ph.D. in Plant Genetics Manipulation from the University of Nottingham.

Dr. Chen, 60, returns to a role he has held twice before at Origin Agritech, serving as CFO from January 2012 to January 2016 and again from December 2018 to April 2020. He also served as CEO from February 2018 to December 2018. Between his tenures at Origin, Dr. Chen held executive positions at China Finance Online and Yunji Inc. (NASDAQ: YJ), and worked as an Investment Manager at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut and an M.B.A. from New York University.

The appointments follow the resignation of Dr. Changqing Mao as independent director effective March 12, 2026, and Chi Kin (Patrick) Cheng as CFO effective March 19, 2026.

Origin Agritech is a Beijing-based agricultural technology company founded in 1997. The company's phytase corn was the first transgenic corn to receive a Bio-Safety Certificate from China's Ministry of Agriculture, according to the company statement.