Management Team

Christian Kopfli, Esq.
Chief Executive Officer 

Christian co-founded Chromocell in 2002, serving initially as General Counsel before becoming Chief Executive Officer in 2005.

Prior to joining Chromocell, he was an Associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell, working in its New York City, Tokyo and Frankfurt offices.

At Davis Polk, Christian worked extensively in Mergers & Acquisitions, Capital Markets and Private Equity Transactions.

He received a doctoral degree in law (magna cum laude) from the University of Zurich in 2000 and earned his LL.M. from Columbia Law School in New York City in 1998. Christian is a Board Member of BioNJ and admitted to the Bar in New York and Switzerland.

Dennis J.Sawchuk, Ph.D
Vice President, Flavor Sciences

Dennis joined Chromocell in 2004 and works on the development and deployment of the company’s Core Technology Platforms. He also manages Discovery and Development programs.

Previously, Dennis was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He received his Ph.D. in 2002 from The Rockefeller University in New York City and was awarded Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada PGS-A and PGS-B scholarships during his graduate studies. Dennis obtained a B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, where he was a Canada Scholar.

Ajay Chandran, MBA
Vice President, Commercialization

Ajay joined FlavorHealth in 2018, leading efforts to commercialize the company’s portfolio of natural flavors solutions.
Ajay has 20 years of global leadership experience in Marketing, Sales, Sustainability and Global Account Management. Prior to holding the position of VP, Commercialization at Flavor Health, he held the role of Senior Director at PURECIRCLE LIMITED (LON PURE), from 2011 until 2018. PureCircle Limited is the world’s largest producer and marketer of high purity Stevia sweeteners and flavor, where he helped build a first-class commercial team to drive the company’s strategy in South Asia – the world’s largest sugar consuming region. Prior to that, he managed the world’s largest food and beverage customers like Coca Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle and Merisant in global and regional roles. Ajay also led the development of PureCircle’s sustainability strategy, including industry pioneering farm-to-gate carbon and water footprint, white papers and developing innovative ways to communicate stevia’s benefits to B2B and B2C audiences. His work at PureCircle resulted in several industry recognitions and awards (2014 Ethical Corp Award, World Dairy Congress and 2013 FiE, Food Ingredients Europe). Prior to PureCircle, he held global sales and marketing leadership positions at YKK Corporation of Americas – A $7B Japanese Multinational, where he was amongst others responsible for building the global account retail strategy for clients like Wal-Mart and Target.
Ajay holds an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, Masters and a Bachelors in Physics from University of Delhi. He speaks four languages.

Marcus C. Sands, Esq.
Vice President, Legal Affairs and Corporate Development

Marcus joined Chromocell in June 2011. He is spearheading Chromocell’s intellectual property development strategy and managing all aspects of the company’s legal affairs.

Previously, Marcus was an Associate at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP where he was involved in intellectual property law with a focus on technology transactions in the life sciences industry. He has counseled clients regarding patent and licensing strategies and contract negotiations. He also has worked on several public and private debt and equity financings, and mergers and acquisitions.

Marcus also worked as a Case Assistant at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in intellectual property litigation and as a Portfolio Assistant on a fixed income trading desk at Alliance Capital Management (now AllianceBernstein).

Marcus earned a bachelor’s degree from Rice University in Houston, where he double majored in Chemistry and Economics with a minor in Biology. He earned his J.D. from the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago. He is a master’s candidate in Biotechnology at Columbia University.

Marcus is admitted to the bar in New York and is admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.


Deborah Beckwith, CPA
Senior Director, Finance

Debbie joined Chromocell Corporation in 2015 to spearhead the financial operations of the company. She brought with her 32 years of experience in professional accounting, during which time she has worked extensively in both public accounting and privately owned corporate businesses. She now contributes to Chromocell her expertise in all aspects of business finance including strategic planning, tax planning, budgeting and forecasting, financial data management and auditing.

Prior to Chromocell Debbie was a partner at Ruchowitz Hausman Palmieri CPAs. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New Jersey Society of Public Accountants. She graduated Third Honors with her B.S. in Accounting from Trenton State College.