- Xampla – creator of natural alternatives to single-use plastic – hires first Head of Marketing and Communications, Katrina Curl and Business Development Manager, Stanley Mitchell.
- Katrina brings more than a decade’s comms experience from the UK’s top agencies, working with household names in FMCG and tech including Unilever, Britvic and Canon.
- Stanley has worked with major corporations focussing on sustainability and technical innovation, including at Innovia Technology and the Ministry of Defence.
- Both join a team of more than 20 technical experts and scientists as the business prepares to launch its first products.
Creator of natural alternatives to single-use plastic, Xampla, has welcomed new Head of Marketing and Communications Katrina Curl and Stanley Mitchell as Business Development Manager to form a new commercial team to support the firm as it prepares to launch its first products.
Katrina brings more than a decade’s experience in marketing and branding, having led the communications strategies of household names in FMCG, retail and tech. She joins Xampla from VCCP where she led the Canon account across EMEA, delivering brand strategy.
Prior to this, Katrina worked at the UK’s top agencies including BBH London, Creature of London and DLKW Lowe, delivering new purpose positioning, brand strategy and product launch campaigns for Unilever and Surf across Europe, Africa and Asia.
Stanley joins Xampla from his role as Innovation Consultant at Innovia Technology, where he worked with multinational corporations to develop and deploy new technologies across various sectors including healthcare, FMCG, oil and gas, and aerospace.
With these latest appointments, Xampla’s expert team has grown to 22 employees, after only making its first hire in January last year. The newly appointed commercial team will play a vital role in developing the company’s partnerships with customers and brands as it prepares to launch its first products.
Xampla’s continued growth follows funding rounds with leading tech investors Horizons Ventures and Amadeus Capital Partners.
The product of more than 15 years’ research at Cambridge University, Xampla’s plant protein material mimics the molecular structure of spider silk, creating a strong, flexible and entirely natural alternative to single-use plastic. Its technology has applications in flexible films, microcapsules and coatings.
Xampla CEO Simon Hombersley said:
Xampla is at an exciting point of growth and we are delighted to welcome Katrina and Stanley to further bolster our team of experts and to grow the commercial operations of the business. After years of research and development, we are now at the point of commercialising our products with customers and their combined expertise will be extremely valuable in this next stage for Xampla.
More and more people are seeking plastic alternatives in a bid to reduce their environmental impact. Katrina and Stanley are joining our group of experts committed to reducing plastic pollution and we are all looking forward to seeing the science behind our material come to life through their work.
New Head of Marketing and Communications, Katrina Curl, said:
Xampla’s mission to reduce plastic pollution encouraged me to join the team as I believe its innovation is the answer that brands have been looking for. I will be working closely with Stanley in the commercial arm of the business to develop and lead the strategy to drive this forwards as we position the Xampla brand and value proposition for new audiences.
