Value vitality

Jarl Knudsen has extensive experience in the production of high-grade fish oils/omega 3 products and marine protein at Maritex AS, Uniq Marine Biotech AS, Nordlaks Produkter AS and Hofseth Biocare ASA.

Chief Executive Officer

When Sten joined Biomega in September 2019, he brought with him 25 years of experience from across the food and health industry in executive roles in operations, sales, marketing and commercial development. Sten’s previous role was as Executive Vice President of Asia Pacific & Latin America at Chr. Hansen, a leading bioscience company that develops natural solutions for the food, nutritional, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries.

Sten holds a MSc in Food Science & Technology, an MBA in General Management and an Executive Master in Change.

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Chief Financial Officer

Prior to joining Biomega in 2018, Thomas has worked with auditing and corporate consulting at PwC towards industries that included aquaculture, oil & gas, shipping. Further, he has more than eight years of experience from private equity and private equity-backed companies, where he held positions as Investment Manager and CFO, and served on several boards. He is a state-authorized public accountant in Norway with two Master degrees (Economics and Business Administration, and Accounting and Auditing) from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH).

Thomas has a passion for the circular economy, playing his part in Biomega to increase the sustainability of the world’s food production.

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Chief Scientific Officer

Kjartan co-founded Biomega in 2000. He has held various positions in the company, including member and chairman of the board of directors, CSO and CEO. He also founded Alkymar AS, which pioneered novel solutions for continuous enzymatic hydrolysis. Alkymar is now a part of Biomega. Kjartan has been an appointed member on various public advisory committees related to the marine sector and science-based industry developments. He was involved in establishing the Norwegian Network for Industrial Biotechnology and held the position as chairman for its initial years.

Kjartan was previously a senior scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Nutrition ans Seafood Research, and he served as CEO of several research-based companies – Austevoll Fiskefôr AS, SeaGrain AS, Thia Medica AS and Bio Food and Feed AS. He holds a PhD in nutrition from the University of Bergen.

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COO of Biomega Group & MD of Biomega Norway

Joining the team in August 2018, Anette comes with nearly 15 years of experience from the National Institute for Nutrition and Seafood Research/ Institute for Marine Research, primarily as a department head. She holds a master degree in molecular biology from the University of Bergen and conducted her master thesis at Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, where she also worked as a research assistant. 

Her experience covers management, improvement processes, quality assurance (ISO17025), molecular- and microbiology, biochemistry, parasitology, laboratory animal facility, LIMS and scientific cruises. She is motivated by the prospect of using the whole fish as raw material for food and feed and by working together with the Biomega team to find solutions to challenges.

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Chief Technical Officer

Andrew joined the Biomega team in October 2019. He moved to Scandinavia in 1998 from Cape Town, South Africa, and has held Project, R&D and Technology management positions in Sweden and Norway. This background is within a range of industries, including: mining, pulp & paper, biorefining, oil & gas and industrial water treatment. Common for most of these positions has been the focus on process and technology development and environmental technologies.

After working within large-scale, high-efficiency production environments (at LKAB and Stora Enso, in Sweden), Andrew has been drawn to the flexibility, energy and innovation in smaller companies and start-ups (Vetco Gas Technology, Weyland Bioethanol, Sorbwater Technology), particularly those with a focus on resource recovery and sustainability. Andrew has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town.

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Director of Global Sales

Marianne joined the team in February 2018. With her experience in omegas and proteins (Univar, Bioriginal/Omega Protein and Avebe), she brings more than 20 years of experience in international marketing & sales of healthy food ingredients. Marianne sees a great future for sustainable high quality food ingredients with health benefits, and is passionate about helping people live healthier lives.

Marianne has an educational background in food science and technology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

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Director of Sourcing

Harald has been part of the Norwegian aquaculture industry since 1992. His first engagement was in Hordafòr AS, a Norwegian Silage company, where he was QA-manager, Head of Sales and more. In 2000, he was one of the founders and shareholders of Biomega. Over the years he has been Head of Sales and a member of the board, and is currently Director of Sourcing.

Harald holds a master’s degree in fish health from the University of Bergen.

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Director of Business Development

Bringing with him more than 10 years of experience from the aquaculture business, Piotr joined Biomega in December 2017. Prior to this, he was Head of Sales at Fish Pool ASA, the seafood exchange owned by Oslo Stock Exchange. In addition, he is a member of the board at the YoungFish organization and chairman of the board of SeaSmart AS.

Piotr holds a master’s degree from London City University in Energy, Environmental technology and Economics and a bachelor’s degree in Energy Engineering from Western Norway University of Applied Science. He also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Economics from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH).

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Director of Research & Development

Bjørn joined Biomega in August 2018.  He has a background within biochemistry and nutrition, and prior to joining Biomega, he was a senior scientist at the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES). He has broad experience within both pre-clinical and clinical nutritional studies, mainly on the topic of dietary effects of proteins on health.

Liaset holds a PhD in nutrition from the University of Bergen.

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Director of Global Quality

Ingrid joined Biomega in September 2019 bringing with her vast experience in quality, innovation and development at several food producing companies in Norway, as well as the establishment of food factories in other countries.

She holds a masters in Food Science from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and a masters in human nutrition from the University of Bergen, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, with her thesis completed at the Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES).

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