Pearse Lyons

Thomas Pearse Lyons (born 3 August 1944) is an Irish businessman and the founder and President of Kentucky-based Alltech Inc., an American global animal health and nutrition company that is centred on innovation, research and development. Lyons is considered an "entrepreneur, salesman, marketer and scientist all rolled into one", and is widely regarded in the agribusiness sector as an innovator and industry leader.

Lyons was born and raised in Dundalk, Co. Louth. He graduated from University College Dublin (UCD) with a first class honours degree in biochemistry. He worked in Harp Lager in Dundalk while at college. Lyons also graduated with a Master of Science in Brewing Science from the British School of Malting and Brewing (now the School of Biochemistry), University of Birmingham in 1968. In 1971 Lyons received a PhD Biochemistry, also from the University of Birmingham. He later started an MBA at UCD, but didn't complete it. He moved to Irish Distillers, which he described as his 'dream job'.

Lyons received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2004

His work led to him to Kentucky in 1976, and, in 1980, Lyons set up Alltech in his garage. With an initial investment of $10,000 and enough money set aside to pay the mortgage and buy groceries for the family for a year (by this stage he was married with two children), Lyons used his fermentation expertise to continue helping brewers."We started in October and we were in profit by Christmas," he says. "We had to be in profit by Christmas." Not only was Lyons in profit by Christmas, but he did a million dollars' worth of business in his first year. Lyons then turned his attention to animal feed in the belief that yeasts, enzymes and certain bacteria could help animals use feed more efficiently – a concept which was not new but lacked scientific data and research. "And that first million became two ... We have never, ever had a month where Alltech has not made a profit, a good profit," he said. "We've been growing at 20 percent for the best part of 30 years. " By 1985, the animal nutrition side of the business had superseded the alcohol side in importance "even though there are similarities between the products on both sides," according to Lyons. Today, the company is a global animal health company, employing more than 3,000 people with a presence in 128 countries and offices in 85 countries, including North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. Lyons has built Alltech into the fastest growing company in the global animal health industry through innovative technology, creative marketing, and strong branding. It is growing rapidly in the Chinese market. Alltech was the title sponsor of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games held in Lexington, KY. It was both the company and the event’s first title sponsorship.The company invested more than $32 million plus event staffing into the 2010 edition of the Games. Alltech is committed to the next edition in France, the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 in Normandy. 2011 saw Alltech open one of the largest commercial algae production sites in the world.The $200 million Alltech Algae facility is located in Winchester, Ky. and the company is pursuing algae’s applications in animal and human nutrition. In 2012, Alltech was named to a top-10 Best Companies Supporting the Arts in America by the Americans for the Arts. The company received the award for its support of the local arts, its statewide music festival – the Alltech Fortnight Festival – in conjunction with the Games, its annual Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition and its incorporation of the arts into its Sustainable Haiti Project. Alltech sales will reach $1 billion in 2013 with 30 percent coming from acquisitions. Alltech will achieve annual revenue of $1bn in China by 2015 and make a contribution to the nation's production of pork, according to Lyons.

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