Ex-AKVA and SAIC executive takes new role in Canada
Former AKVA Group Scotland boss Jason Cleaversmith has taken a senior management job with the Center for Aquaculture Technologies Canada (CATC) on Prince Edward Island.
Cleaversmith has become vice president leading CATC’s health and nutrition business unit and general manager of Canadian operations.
“I’m delighted to be joining the CATC team at such a pivotal moment in their growth,” said Cleaversmith in a post on the CATC website.
“I look forward to working with the team, their customers, and stakeholders, in order to realise their ambitions to become a highly respected global player in the health and nutrition contract research space.”
Return to PEI
Cleaversmith, who holds a PhD in environmental geochemistry from Edinburgh University and an MBA in business administration from Glasgow University, joined AKVA in September 2017 but parted company with the firm last year.
Before that he was operations and business development director at the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) in Stirling.
He previously worked on Prince Edward Island as head of Novartis Aqua Health overseeing manufacturing and R&D in four facilities with a team of more than 125.
Prior to joining Novartis, Cleaversmith led the bioscience portfolio on behalf of the province of Prince Edward Island as senior investment manager.
‘Extensive experience’
He has joined the CATC from Stirling-based aquaculture management services company Nevis Marine, where he provided consultancy services, most notably as an industry expert with aquaculture accelerator HATCH.Blue.
“It is my pleasure to welcome Jason to our team and back to PEI,” said CATC chief executive John Buchanan.
“His extensive experience and leadership in global aquaculture will be invaluable as we grow our health and nutrition business unit providing contract and research services.”
The Center for Aquaculture Technologies (CAT) is an R&D and contract service organisation focused on the application of biotechnologies to improve productivity, efficiency and sustainability in aquaculture and related industries. It operates laboratories in PEI and San Diego, California.
In April last year CAT was bought by Cuna Del Mar, a US-based sustainable aquaculture investment fund which also owns submersible cage maker InnovaSea, cobia producer Open Blue, which farms seven miles off the coast of Panama, and Sol Azul, which grows Pacific oysters in the El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve in Baja California.
