Meet the innovation board

Olivier re-joined Benchmark in August 2023, as R&D Director and Business Development Heath Director at INVE Aquaculture (Benchmark Advanced Nutrition). He holds a biology degree from the University of Namur (Belgium) and a PhD in Zoology from the University of Leicester (UK).

With over 20 years of experience in aquaculture, he has specialized in intensive shrimp farming and has worked in various regions in Asia and the Americas. Olivier had held positions at The Natural History Museum in London (UK), research laboratories in Hiroshima (Japan), The Oceanic Institute in Hawaii (USA), INVE Aquaculture (positions in research and product management held between 2002 and 2020) and Grobest Holding (technical director) before returning to INVE Aquaculture. He is based in Thailand.

Emma is an IP management and commercialisation consultant working across Benchmark’s three Business Units. As well as managing Benchmark’s existing IP portfolio of patents, trademarks and trade secrets, Emma works closely with the research and innovation teams within each Unit to identify and protect arising IP to ensure it can be maximally used to deliver Benchmark’s mission of sustainable aquaculture.

Emma’s position on the Innovation Board contributes to the company’s One Benchmark approach, ensuring IP assets are known and exploited across the Group, as well as delivering competitive intelligence and external technology development insights to inform the innovation strategy.

Sarah joined Benchmark in January 2018 and works in the UK. Sarah is primarily based in the Legal Team but also supports the PLC Board and Benchmark Executive Management team, and has worked closely throughout the years with all management teams in the Group.

Sarah is passionate to support and develop projects through Innovation, ESG and also through the legal and compliance support the team is providing. Sarah joined the Innovations Board in September 2022 to help support the Innovation board deliver and achieve their targets.

Ross Houston leads the Innovation Board since September 2022 within his role as a Director of Innovations and Genetics. In this role, Ross is working with the Innovation Board members to improve coordination of R&D activities across Benchmark, and to promote cross business-unit collaboration targeted towards customer solutions, and ultimately sustainable aquaculture.

Ross has 20 years of experience in applied genetics research in animal breeding, having formerly been Personal Chair of Aquaculture Genetics and the Deputy Director for Translation and Commercialisation at The Roslin Institute. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 scientific publications, as well as several patents. Ross has been amongst the first to develop genomic tools for several major aquaculture species, and his work on a major quantitative trait locus affecting resistance to Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis in salmon is an exemplar of the application of genetic technologies to control disease in aquaculture. Ross has also published several high profile review and perspective papers on the potential of genomic and biotechnology innovation to improve aquaculture production, for example in Nature Reviews Genetics here.

Morten joined Benchmark in 2015 when Akvaforsk Genetics Center (AFGC) was acquired. He currently holds a dual role, as Director of Genetics in Benchmark Genetics, and newly appointed head of the cross-divisional Benchmark Innovation Board.

Morten earned his PhD in Animal Breeding at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Following a scientific career in aquaculture genetics, he spent 15 years building AFGC into a major provider of genetic improvement services to aquaculture industries worldwide. He has authored or co-authored more than 60 scientific publications on quantitative genetics and selection applied to aquaculture species. After joining Benchmark he has been working with coordinating technical genetics services and R&D priorities across Benchmark Genetics.

Prof Andy Shinn is a Global Technical Expert in Disease Management as part of Benchmark’s Advanced Nutrition (INVE) Technical Service and is a member of Benchmark’s Innovation Board (2018 – ). Andy has >30 years’ experience working in health, welfare and biosecurity, the last eight years of which have been spent in Thailand working for Fish Vet Group Asia and INVE (Thailand) both of which are part of the Benchmark Group. Andy manages an aquatic veterinary diagnostics laboratory and a disease challenge R&D aquarium facility as part of INVE’s technical support. Within his role, Andy works closely with aquaculture stakeholders providing health support and training in disease diagnostics, aquatic health management, biosecurity, and welfare. including aspects of shrimp welfare (winner of the GAA GOAL Innovation Award 2020 on shrimp ablation and robustness).

Andy has a PhD in Veterinary Aquaculture (Institute of Aquaculture, Stirling, Scotland and the Natural History Museum, London). He was the former head of Aquatic Parasitology and is an Honorary Professor in Aquaculture at Stirling (2022 – ); an Adjunct Professorial Research Fellow (Nov 2018 – ) in the Division of Tropical Environments and Societies, James Cook University, Australia; and an honorary lecturer in Sustainable Aquaculture at St Andrews University, Scotland (2015 -). He is the co-founder and Overseas Director of the Fish Museum & Biodiversity Center, Mymensingh, Bangladesh; is affiliated to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Terrestrial Invertebrate Red List Authority team as a platyhelminth expert; and is an invited member of the Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia-Pacific (NACA) – Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health. Andy has co-authored >170 international peer-reviewed scientific articles; with details at https://scholar.google.co.th/citations?user=lAMEm7MAAAAJ&hl=en