RiceBran Technologies Names Brent Rystrom Chief Financial Officer

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, March 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

RiceBran Technologies (NASDAQ: RIBT; RIBTW) (the "Company" or "RBT"), a global leader in the production and marketing of value added products derived from rice bran, today announced the appointment of Brent Rystrom to the position of Chief Financial Officer.  Mr. Rystrom brings over 25 years of business finance experience, including over 20 years of service as a Director of Research and Senior Financial Analyst for several prominent investment banking firms, including Piper Jaffray and Feltl & Company.  

Dr. Robert Smith, CEO of RiceBran Technologies, stated, "We are pleased to welcome Brent to the executive team at RiceBran Technologies as we continue to implement our strategic plan to grow the business and maximize shareholder value.  Brent brings a solid financial management background to our Company as well as strong ties with the Wall Street community to help us effectively increase our market visibility.  His work as an analyst covering consumer products, retail and agriculture companies from the micro to large cap level coupled with his hands-on experience in managing agricultural assets, gives him a unique understanding of how to apply financial discipline through the various stages of corporate growth.  I look forward to his contribution in helping us to build lasting value for our shareholders in the coming years."

Brent Rystrom stated, "I am eager to take on the role of CFO here at RiceBran Technologies and become a part of this exciting growth opportunity.  In making the decision to join RBT, I have come to understand the significant value of our food technology and our highly nutritious proprietary products designed to enable food companies to effectively meet the growing consumer demand for non-GMO, organic, vegan and gluten free product labeling.  I also firmly believe that as our sales team delivers new large scale opportunities, we can build a highly profitable business that will command significant value in the investment world by applying measured financial discipline and prudent operational controls to our business. I intend to work diligently, along with our whole team, to achieve strong financial performance and greater exposure to the investment community in order to increase the value of our Company for the benefit of its stockholders."

Prior to joining RiceBran Technologies, Mr. Rystrom served as Director of Research for Feltl & Company, a regional investment banking firm headquartered in Minnesota.  While at Feltl, he managed the firm's research, institutional sales, and trading departments in addition to providing research coverage on consumer products, retail and agriculture companies ranging from micro to large capitalization. Over his 11 years of service at Piper Jaffray he was named a Wall Street Journal "Best on the Street" analyst and a "Top 10" Retailing Industry Analyst from Reuter's.  Since 1997, Mr. Rystrom has also successfully acquired and managed a large portfolio of personal agricultural real estate assets, and from 2011 through 2015, he served on the Customer Advisory Board of AgStar, a $10 billion agricultural bank based in Minnesota.  Mr. Rystrom holds a Degree in Business-Finance from St. Thomas University.

"On behalf of the Company, I want to thank Dale Belt for his many years of valuable service as CFO of RBT," continued Smith. "Dale will be staying on with the management team as an Executive Vice President through the remainder of 2017, and we look forward to his continued contribution as we build our Company for the future."

About RiceBran Technologies  

RiceBran Technologies is a human food ingredient and animal nutrition company focused on the procurement, bio-refining and marketing of numerous products derived from rice bran. RiceBran Technologies has proprietary and patented intellectual property that allows us to convert rice bran, one of the world's most underutilized food sources, into a number of highly nutritious human food ingredient and animal nutrition products.  Our target markets are human food ingredients and animal nutrition manufacturers and retailers, as well as natural food, functional food and nutritional supplement manufacturers and retailers, both domestically and internationally. More information can be found in the Company's filings with the SEC and by visiting our website at http://www.ricebrantech.com .

Forward-Looking Statements 

This release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements about RiceBran Technologies' expectations related to our growth, financial performance and value. These statements are made based upon current expectations that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties.  RiceBran Technologies does not undertake to update forward-looking statements in this news release to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting such forward-looking information.  Assumptions and other information that could cause results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking information can be found in this press release and in RiceBran Technologies' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent periodic reports.

Investor Contact:
Ascendant Partners, LLC
Fred Sommer
(732) 410-9810
fred@ascendantpartnersllc.com

SOURCE RiceBran Technologies