Who We Are
Advisory Board
Dr. Juli-Anne Russo
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Juli-Anne is a Jamaican Aquaculture Technical Consultant, Writer and Food Entrepreneur. She specializes in innovation, research & development, fish nutrition and aquatic animal biosecurity. She has over 20 years experience working directly with the CPG animal and human food manufacturing industry, government, NGOs such as FAO, USAID, World Bank and Compete Caribbean, and research institutions in the capacity of research and development. She has experience as a CEO as the founder and developer of Juli-Annes Tropical Kitchen which produced tropical snack food items. Juli-Anne established CAEIH – the Caribbeans first Science-led aquaculture hub. She is also the founder of the WiCA (Women in Caribbean Aquaculture)
Juli-Annes role as CAEIH CEO involves developing the organizations strategic vision, leading the Advisory and Management Teams, representing the organisation at the regional and international level and engaging the regional CARICOM and global networks.
Katherine Bryar
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From a dairy farming family in Australia to spending decades engaged with farming improvement initiatives and strategic communications, Katherine has worked with eggs, dairy, and seafood across the world. She has led several science-based educational communication campaigns, including the multi-award-winning Egg Nutrition campaign, which dispelled myths about eggs. She Co-Founded Fed by Blue, a science-based communications initiative working to amplify efforts that are bringing new pathways, new dialogue, and new perceptions to blue foods. Katherine has also been involved with the creation and adoption of several responsible farming certification programs and cutting-edge technologies empowering farmers to use better farming practices. She regularly engages in advocacy work sitting on several advisory panels, including the United Nations, where she bridges the needs of conservationists, governments, and businesses. Currently, Katherine is the Global Marketing Director of BioMar Group, a global aquafeed company and represents them in the UN Blue Food Partnership. With the feed representing around 80% of the environmental footprint of aquaculture farming, BioMar is well positioned to revolutionise the industry with a set of ambitious targets that will reduce the impact of aquafeeds while decoupling them from the human supply chain.
Scientific Advisory Board
Risha Alleyne MSc
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Risha Alleyne is a dual citizen of Trinidad & Tobago and St. Vincent & the Grenadines and works with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as an Aquaculture Development Specialist. Risha has an undergraduate degree in marine biology at Barry University, USA. Her involvement in the environmental field in Trinidad and Tobago spans over three decades and includes five years of work on conservation legislation and public awareness campaigns. Risha received a full scholarship via the EU’s Erasmus Mundus programme to pursue a Joint Master’s degree in Aquaculture, Environment and the Society in Europe
Mia Avril
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Mia graduated from the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji with an MSc in Marine Science,
with special focus in aquaponics in 2018. Since then, she has worked in various capacities in the aquaculture sector in the Caribbean region including a consultancy with FAO in Dominica and most recently, teaching and research in aquaponics and aqua feeds in the Bahamas. Originally from St Lucia, she considers herself a citizen of CARICOM.
Dr. Lisa Benjamin
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Dr. Lisa Benjamin is a Veterinary Epidemiologist. She lectures in Epidemiology, Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety in the Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM), The University of the West Indies. Her major research interests include antimicrobial resistance, food safety (agriculture and aquaculture), the surveillance of zoonotic diseases and, the use of technology in translating scientific knowledge to different groups in society.
Leanne Morris Bennett
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Based in Jamaica Leanne is currently pursuing her Masters of Science degree at the Holar university in Saudarkrukur Iceland. Her current study is focusing on the relationship between environmental factors and population density of Jamaican mangrove oysters in Bowden Bay, Saint Thomas. She is also an Aquaculture extension officer with the National fisheries Authority. Her passion for mariculture and it’s growth guides her actions and she hopes to contribute to the broader Caribbean picture, access to sustainable healthy high quality seafood for all.
Jen Chapman
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Jen is a biology graduate and Kinship Conservation Fellow with fifteen years professional experience in technical and leadership roles, the majority of which have focused at the nexus of fisheries and conservation in Belize. She is interested in opportunities in mariculture for nutrition-sensitive, biodiversity-positive and climate-smart seafood production
Ruth Gutierrez-Corley MSc.
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Ruth Gutierrez-Corley was born in Belize and is currently, a Ph.D. candidate in Islands and Small States Studies at the University of Malta. Ruth’s current research is focused on the sustainability of seaweed aquaculture for blue growth and climate change adaption in small island developing states with the goals of boosting seaweed aquaculture in Belize and other Caribbean islands. Her interdisciplinary background and work experiences over the past ten years are in aquaculture and natural and marine resources management. She is a co-founder of a non-governmental organization named ‘Building Belizean Livelihoods and Environment (B-BLUE)’ in 2019 and a youth organization named ‘Independence Youth Action Movement (I-YAM)’ in 2015.
Stacy-Ann Gray MSc. MEd
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Stacy-Ann has a master’s degree in Education Administration from the University of West Indies in Jamaica as well as an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s degree in Aquaculture, Environment & Society from 3 European Universities, located in Scotland, Greece & France. In 2021, she was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship to pursue her Ph.D. studies at the Centre for Marine & Renewable Energy (MaREI), University College Cork, Ireland
Danielle Nembhard MSc.
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Danielle is an environmental consultant, marine scientist and climate justice advocate with a decade of experience specialising in sustainable environmental management. In 2021, Dani was awarded a doctoral research scholarship to The Cairns Institute at James Cook University in Australia under the Great Barrier Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP). Her research centres on environmental sociology, aiming to promote the decolonisation of natural resource management and conservation science
Dr. Carla Phillips Savage
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Dr. Phillips is a Certified Aquatic Veterinarian who has been in general veterinary practice since 2002 and has been in the field of aquatic animal veterinary clinical and laboratory diagnostic practice, research and education since 2005. She has extensive experience in the diagnosis, treatment and management of diseases of a range of aquatic species, including ornamental fish, food fish and shellfish in various types of freshwater and marine aquaculture production systems, as well as in integrated fish and crop productions systems (aquaponics). She is presently an Associate Professor of Practice at the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicineat Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.
Shanna Lee Thomas MSc.
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Shanna- Lee Thomas is the Chief Scientific Officer at the UWI-Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory. She received her BSc in Environmental Biology and MSc in Natural Resource Management specializing in Marine and Terrestrial Ecology, both from the University of the West Indies- Mona campus. Her research area focused on mangrove rehabilitation at Refuge Cay, Port Royal. Currently, she is one of the lead scientists in a project focusing on Queen conch reproduction in Jamaica. Shanna- Lee is an experienced scuba diver and has worked on a number of projects with the DBML, including coral reef monitoring and rehabilitation, coral relocation, mangrove rehabilitation, and marine conservation education.
Dr. Stacey M. Williams
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Dr. Stacey Williams received her doctorate in Biological Oceanography from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez. She is a co-founder and lead scientist of a small non-profit organization in Puerto Rico, the Institute for Socio-Ecological Research (ISER Caribe). She is the director for the first land-based coral and sea urchin nurseries in Puerto Rico at the Centro de Investigación y Restauración de Organismos Marinos (CIROM) in Ceiba and La Parguera. She has also developed a small hatchery for sea urchins.
Dr. Amina Moss
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Dr. Amina Moss is a Lecturer at the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, with a special focus on Aquaculture nutrition. Her academic background includes a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology with Chemistry from the College of The Bahamas, as well as a Master’s and Doctorate in Fisheries Science (Aquaculture Nutrition) from Kagoshima University, Japan. Dr. Moss is a researcher with a passion for innovation and development in the field of Aquaculture Science, particularly in developing countries and emerging markets such as the Caribbean. Dr. Moss's specific expertise is in the development of sustainable and alternative feeding formulations for fish and crustaceans. She hopes to contribute to the advancement of the Aquaculture industry, especially in the context of global food security and sustainable aquaculture practices. In addition to her academic achievements, Dr. Moss is a multilingual scholar, fluent in English and French, and possessing intermediate language proficiency in Japanese. Her love for learning new languages stems from her upbringing in diverse countries such as Bora Bora, Mauritius Island, and Senegal. With a loving Bahamian husband and two daughters who were born in Japan, her family is her biggest support system, enabling her to balance her career and family responsibilities
Marketing Team
Hazel Peat
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Hazel has a degree in Business Languages and Business Management and over 15 years’ marketing, events and communications experience. Starting out in the Scottish tourism industry, she moved on to work for a water management company, thereafter the renewable energy industry and then aquaculture.
She offers freelance specialist events management services and social media, copywriting and branding services.
Tracey Diamond
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Tracey Diamond is a brand designer that works with businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals to promote their business, strengthen their brand and attract new clients. She approaches each project with two important aspects - maintaining cohesive design and working with what inspired the business to be.
Tracey is also a professional artist, writer and pattern designer, inspired by the colors, shapes and textures that nature shares.
Grace Cordova
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Grace is your go-to launch and marketing funnel strategist, dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs to thrive in their businesses. She excels at guiding clients through the maze of launching and scaling, providing a clear roadmap to structure, automate, and deliver life-changing offers that resonate with their dream clients.
She specializes in crafting compelling launch campaigns and simplifies the tech process while implementing systems that drive growth and prevent burnout.