Tom Frese earned a Master of Science degree in Marine Biology from Florida International University in 1994 and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Florida in 1981 and has over 20 years experience in the aquaculture industry. With this unique mix of aquaculture and financial training and many years of expertise, Tom has excelled in delivering leading-edge aquaculture project development and management expertise to AquaSol’s valued clients. Tom has led projects for clients in Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, New Caledonia, Oman, Suriname, Switzerland, The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Uganda, United States, Venezuela, and Vietnam. Tom was certified to perform Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) audits of seafood processing plants in 1999 and successfully completed the Shrimp Farming Short Course at Texas A&M University in 1994. In 1999, Tom founded the Tilapia Mailing List; a global information sharing email network devoted exclusively to the Tilapia industry. The network currently has more than 3,000 members worldwide, making it the largest aquaculture network of its kind. Tom’s principal role in AquaSol is to continue to lead and manage important new aquaculture projects worldwide and to oversee projects that drive efficiency into existing aquaculture operations.

Dr. Claude E. Boyd is a world renowned expert in aquaculture with more than 45 years experience. Claude’s areas of expertise are in water quality, soil quality, and environmental management of fish and shrimp farming operations. Focusing on water and aquatic soil chemistry, Claude obtained his Doctoral degree from Auburn University in 1966 and has been on the faculty of Auburn University ever since, achieving distinction as a tenured full Professor in 1977. Throughout his distinguished career, Claude has performed consulting work in more than 35 countries. Some of his most important work has been in the Catfish industry in the United States, where he ultimately received the Distinguished Service Award from the Catfish Farmers of America. Claude was also responsible for many of the most important early advances of the shrimp farming industries of Belize, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Madagascar, and Thailand to name a few. As the industry-leading authoritative expert on aquaculture soil, water, and environmental quality, Claude’s expert opinion has always been in high demand. As a result, Claude has authored or co-authored seven books and more than 250 scientific and industry journal publications on topics of interest to fish and shrimp farmers worldwide. Claude’s first authoritative work, Water Quality in Warmwater Fish Ponds, was published in 1979 and remains one of the most important industry references. Claude is also an outstanding trainer and mentor to aspiring aquaculturists worldwide. At Auburn, Claude has been the major Professor to more than 107 master’s and doctoral candidates. And continuing in the spirit of giving back to the aquaculture industry, Claude has been an active participant in numerous Committees, Boards, and Panels. Claude currently serves on the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Aquaculture in the Tropics, Journal of Applied Aquaculture, and Aquaculture International. Claude has been part of the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Shrimp Farm Standards Committee since its inception in 2003. To recognize Claude’s outstanding achievements and contributions to the aquaculture industry, he was awarded the Honorary Life Membership Award by the World Aquaculture Society in 1999.

James (Jim) F. Brenner is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the States of Florida and Texas with 30 years of accounting and financial leadership experience. Jim is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and is a member of the Forensic and Valuation Services Section of the AICPA. Jim has earned the Accredited in Business Valuations (ABV) designation by the AICPA and is fully qualified to provide full business valuations with or without opinions on value. He is also a member of the Institute of Business Appraisers and the International Tax Forum. Jim has extensive experience with due diligence as either the lead, or the financial lead for large projects and has worked on approximately fifty (50) acquisition/divestiture projects, of which approximately 60% of them were closed. In support of these due diligence efforts, Jim has spent countless hours in data rooms developing financial models and working on negotiating points on behalf of his employers and clients. From 1992-2003, Jim was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Statia Terminals Group N.V., an oil and gas terminaling company that had revenues of approximately 200 million in 2002. From 2006-2009, Jim was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. Terminals Division. Kinder Morgan is a publicly traded company and one of the world’s largest pipeline and terminaling companies, with 2009 revenues of $7 billion. While employed at Kinder Morgan, Jim led or participated in numerous acquisition and divestiture projects. Jim’s principal role with AquaSol is to lead or co-lead our aquaculture investment advisory services, aquaculture asset valuations, and the financial aspects of our aquaculture due diligence efforts. Jim is fluent is English and Spanish.

John Corbin has 34 years of experience in aquaculture research, planning, permitting, and development. From 1978-2006, John served as Manager of Hawaii’s State Aquaculture Development Program (ADP), where he was responsible for expanding the aquaculture industry through planning and policy development, provision of industry support services, funding research, and coordinating demonstration projects and technical extension in support of the fledgling industry. During this period, John co-authored Aquaculture Development for Hawaii, the first state aquaculture plan in the United States. Under John's guidance, Hawaii's ADP established an internationally respected marine shrimp broodstock health certification program that remains the industry standard. He also advised hundreds of small-scale to corporate commercial aquaculture enterprises on species selection, available technologies, site selection, permit acquisition, financing, operations, and product marketing. Through John’s leadership, the Hawaii industry (research and production) grew from a value of less than $2 million a year to more than $40 million. John served on the Board of Directors of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) from 1981-2006 and was instrumental in shaping mariculture research and commercial activities at NELHA. In 1985, John was appointed a Founding Director for the United States Department of Agriculture's Pacific Regional Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture, serving on the Board until 2006.

During his tenure as Manager of Hawaii's State Aquaculture Development Program, John developed specialist experience in the planning and permitting of open ocean aquaculture for Hawaii and throughout the United States. John led the successful effort to amend State law to allow leasing for offshore aquaculture operations in Hawaii. From 2000-2003, John collaborated with the Center for Marine Policy at the University of Delaware to develop the core policy framework for aquaculture in the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (USEEZ).

In 2013, John was selected to the prestigious post of Member of the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee; a committee that advises the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on management of living marine resources throughout the United States.

John received his BS degree in Zoology and Chemistry from the University of Miami and his MS degree in Biological Oceanography from the University of Hawaii (UH). He has published 35 scientific papers and popular articles and six book chapters on aquaculture research, planning and development in Hawaii and the Pacific. 

Dr. Roger Doyle is a world renowned aquaculture geneticist with almost 40 years of research, development and commercial experience in tilapia, salmon, carp, and shrimp genetics

Roger earned his MSc and PhD degrees in Biology from Yale University and his MSc degree in Oceanography and BSc degrees in Biology and Chemistry from Dalhousie University in Canada. For the past 10 years, Roger has been engaged in an aquaculture genetics consultancy for one of the world's largest salmon aquaculture companies, where he has been designing their Canadian Salmon family breeding and selection program, building databases, and interpreting microsatellite family identification results. Several years ago, Roger performed due diligence in connection with the purchase of a large and successful aquaculture genetics organization. In 1997, 1999, and 2005, Roger was a technical advisor on Salmon genetic conservation for the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. Since 1999, Roger has performed salmon genetic conservation work for Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Roger is currently designing and executing the shrimp breeding program for one of the largest shrimp producers in Asia and also other programs in the Middle East and the Americas. He also formally reviewed and subsequently redesigned the shrimp genetics program at the Oceanic Institute in Hawaii during a multi-year consultancy in the early 2000s. Dr. Doyle is also extremely active in Tilapia genetics for multiple clients around the world. He is the former President of the International Association for Aquaculture Genetics and former Coordinator of the Aquaculture Genetics Network in Asia (IDRC). Dr. Doyle is a retired Professor of Biology and Founding Director of the Marine Gene Probe Laboratory at Dalhousie University in Canada. From 1980-1984, Dr. Doyle was an aquaculture genetics Lecturer at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. He has approximately 100 publications in theoretical and applied genetics to his credit, including his co-editor role in the important 1996 publication entitled Genetics in Aquaculture V.

David Griffith is an aquaculture management specialist with more than 20 years experience in the commercial production of shrimp and tilapia under semi-extensive and intensive conditions. David’s primary focus is on improving operational efficiencies throughout the value chain of commercial aquaculture operations. From hatchery to finished product, Mr. Griffith has consistently improved operating margins and overall operational efficiency using family selection techniques, feed and disease management, and implementation of enhanced biosecurity methods. David is committed to the development and implementation of sustainable production methods and has participated in GlobalGap, Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), and the Aquaculture Certification Council (ACC) certification processes. David was a member of the Board of Directors of the ACC for six years. David is fluent in English and Spanish.

John L. Holder has been involved in many aspects of the construction and aquaculture industries for over 37 years. John’s aquaculture experience has encompassed the design of simple aquaculture systems to the most advanced fish hatchery systems in the world. His experience in aquaculture spans from 1973 to today and he has been involved in transforming the industry from flow through hatcheries to recirculation facilities around the world. John was previously the Special Projects Manager of International Aquafoods, a global company and prior to that he was the Fresh Water Production Manager of Pan Fish. John has served as the lead consultant and project manager on many recirculating aquaculture system design and construction projects and has worked on projects around the world. These projects have been acknowledged as some of the most demanding commercial construction ventures undertaken at this scale from a technology, budget management, and logistics control perspective. A graduate of the University of Guelph, Canada, John started his career at the largest trout farm in Ontario in 1973. In this post he was responsible for the daily operations of the farm. After 12 years, he was called to Newfoundland to start the Atlantic Salmon Industry. John was in charge of the first commercial Salmon hatchery in Newfoundland. After three years, John accepted the position of Fresh Water Production Manager at Pan Fish. During his tenure at Pan Fish, John built the Fresh Water Division from one hatchery up to five sites and helped develop Pan Fish into the largest producer of smolts in British Colombia. After this success, John took a position with International Aquafoods, where he sourced and refined equipment used to create novel recirculating aquaculture systems, some of which are still in service to this day. John is a member of the Aquaculture Engineering Society, the World Aquaculture Society, and the Aquaculture Association of Canada, where he previously served as Vice President.

Dr. Siân Morgan is an ISO 9001:2008 certified lead auditor in Scientific Certification System’s Sustainable Seafood Certification program, which includes both aquaculture and chain of custody certification under the auspices of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), as well as certification of capture fisheries under the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard. Siân has ten years of experience in the fields of ecology with particular expertise in markets-based fisheries reform, certification and pragmatic, quantitative methods for decision analysis. She has been intimately involved in the Aquaculture Dialogues, sitting on the global steering committee for the Shrimp Dialogue and the Freshwater Trout Dialogue. In addition, she currently sits on the Technical Advisory Group for the ASC, and is a past member of the MSC Stakeholder council. Her doctoral research at the Fisheries Center, University of British Columbia/McGill examined the ecology, population dynamics and management of small-scale, data-poor fisheries in Asia. Siân has worked in non-governmental, academic and consulting settings and brings to the team a strong background in multi-stakeholder consultation. Past projects managed by Siân include developing SeaChoice, a national sustainable seafood program for Canada, conceiving pragmatic trade tools for the CITES Secretariat and researching species responses to area-based management for WWF. Siân is qualified to audit the MSC and the ASC standards including the MSC Risk-based framework, Low Trophic Level MSC assessments, MSC Chain of custody audits and SAI’s SA 8000 social accountability audits.

Dr. Albert Tacon has 37 years of experience in aquatic nutrition, aquaculture feed formulation, aquatic feed manufacturing technology, and on-farm aquatic feed management.  Within the framework of Albert’s overall experience, he has 14 years of in-house experience with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) working within National, Regional, and Inter-regional Aquaculture Development Projects, and within the Regular Program of FAO in Rome, Italy. Over the course of Albert’s illustrious career, he has had work experiences in American Samoa, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Ecuador, Egypt, Fiji, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia. Albert has been a Member of the Aquaculture Working Group of the USDA’s National Organic Program Aquatic Species Task Force since 2000. Albert has more than 212 aquaculture related publications and one patent on aquaculture technology, including scientific research publications, review publications, FAO technical papers and field documents, books, book chapters and magazine articles, with a focus on aquatic feeds and feeding, aquaculture development trends, food security, and poverty alleviation. Albert has been a member of the Editorial Boards for the publications Aquaculture Nutrition and Aquaculture Research since 1998 and1984 respectively. Albert is fluent in English and Spanish and has a working knowledge of Italian and Portuguese. Albert’s approach to the development of practical cost-effective artificial aquatic feeds and feeding regimes for broodstock maturation, nursery, hatchery, and growout is to tailor feeds and feeding programs to the intended production system, with equal emphasis and importance given to five inter-related factors, namely 1) the dietary formulation and nutrient level of the diet being fed, 2) the manufacturing process used to produce the diet and the resultant physical characteristics and water stability of the finished diet, 3) the transportation and on-farm storage of the finished feed prior to feeding on the farm, 4) the culture system used to produce the animals, including natural food availability and water management, and 5) practical application of feeds and feeding cost per unit of production.

Andy Watkins has 28 years experience in the construction and management of shrimp hatcheries around the world. In 2011, Andy initiated development of a planned 4 phase 400 million post larvae (PL) per month shrimp hatchery in Vietnam and commenced construction of this state-of-the-art hatchery in early 2012. Andy also excels at troubleshooting existing hatchery facilities. Within a year of the first consultation at an existing hatchery facility in Vietnam in 2008, the hatchery produced more in one month as they had produced in the entire year prior to his arrival. Transfer survivals at this hatchery exceeded 70%. In 2004, Andy designed and developed a Litopenaeus vannamei hatchery in Indonesia that is now consistently producing over 150 million PL per month with transfer survivals averaging greater than 65%. Through his continued involvement in the development of this facility, it is now producing its own selected broodstock and has a fully operational NBC (Nucleus Breeding Center). From 2002-2004, Andy was the Operations Manager at Shrimp Improvement Systems (SIS) and played a critical role in this hatchery’s technical development. During his time with SIS, post larval production was refined and record productions attained of 80 million per month. During his career, Andy has been a manager, owner, technical director, designer, and trainer at various hatcheries in Ecuador, Cuba, Colombia, and Brazil. Andy earned a Joint Honors B.Sc. Degree in Marine Biology / Zoology, University College of North Wales in the United Kingdom and is fluent in English and Spanish.