Libby Woodhatch

Executive Chair

Libby Woodhatch MSc, has worked for more than 20 years in the seafood supply chain and on standards development. Prior to becoming Executive Chair of MarinTrust, she was Head of Advocacy at Seafish, where her remit included the development of the Responsible Fishing Scheme (RFS) standard and a wider programme in seafood ethics. Libby was CEO of industry body Seafood Scotland for ten years, where she helped improve the value of return to the Scottish seafood industry. During this time, she also sat on the MSC’s Stakeholder Council. Libby is a Trustee of the Fishermen’s Mission, which provides welfare and support to fishermen and their families.

Francisco Aldon

CEO

Francisco has been with MarinTrust, the leading Certification Program for Marine Ingredients, from its early development within IFFO (the marine ingredients organisation), to becoming the CEO of MarinTrust in 2020. With over 15 years of experience in the food sector, specialising in marine ingredients, Francisco has unique expertise in responsible sourcing, sustainable production practices, and digital traceability in the marine ingredient supply chain. This expertise in traceability led him to join the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) Supervisory Board, while also contributing to the Technical Committee shaping the GSA Seafood Processing Standard. Since 2014, Francisco has also been focused on fisheries for reduction in South East Asia and Latin America through the MarinTrust Improver Programme, resulting in positive changes at the legislative level of previously struggling fisheries. All of this is part of his overall mission of cementing the future of marine ingredients as vital and sustainable sources of nutrition for the world.

Francisco holds a MSc in Fisheries Engineering from UNALM (Peru) and a MSc in Marine Ecology and Environmental Management from Queen Mary University (London).

Nicola Clark

Impacts Manager

Dr Nicola Clark graduated from the University of Leicester in 2010 with a Masters in Geology and then went on to graduate with a PhD in Geology in 2014. She joined MarinTrust (then IFFO RS) in 2017 as the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Coordinator and became the Impacts Manager in 2019. She currently manages the MarinTrust Improver Programme and is in charge of maintaining and developing the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning system for the company.

 

Laura Courage

Assurance and Risk Manager

Laura graduated from Nottingham with a BA Honours in Spanish and Italian and joined MarinTrust (then IFFO RS) in 2016 as the Standards Administrator before advancing through various roles, becoming the Assurance and Risk Manager in November 2021. She currently responsible for the oversight and management of the assurance, risk, and data governance systems to meet with strategic objectives as well as the maintenance of the credibility and relevancy of the MarinTrust programme. 

Dr Emily McGregor

Fisheries Manager

Dr Emily McGregor is an environmental scientist with expertise in fisheries science and seafood certification.

Emily has a PhD from the University of Cape Town where she applied her research to support the implementation of ecosystem based fisheries management in South Africa's sardine fishery. Emily worked at the Marine Stewardship Council focussing on the implementation and revision of the MSC's fisheries standard. More recently Emily held the role of sustainability manager for a global aquaculture company where she developed an interest in improving aquaculture feed systems.

Emily takes a people-centered approach to solving complex problems, like fisheries management. She believes certification is an essential tool to help everyone to contribute to making a positive difference in our oceans.

Robin Allender

Data Officer

Robin Allender has a BA in English Language and Literature from St Anne’s College, Oxford and joined MarinTrust in 2020. As Data Officer, he is currently implementing a CRM system and developing a new online application platform for MarinTrust.

Jocelyn Amponsa-Atta

Assurance Officer

Jocelyn graduated from University of Cape Coast, Ghana with BSc honours in Biochemistry before obtaining MBA in Total Quality Management from University of Professional Studies Accra. She holds practitioner membership grade at Chartered Quality Institute. She has 8 years’ experience in practising quality assurance in pharmaceutical industry.  As a new Assurance Officer, she is responsible for robust implementation, maintenance and monitoring of MarinTrust assurance system.

Javier Samy

Certification Programme Officer

Javier graduated from University of East London with a BA in International Business. He joined MarinTrust in 2023 in order to support the day-to-day operations of all activities relating to the MarinTrust programme.

Javier is keen to promote environmental sustainability issues and is proud to contribute to best practice in the sourcing and production of marine ingredients.

Andrea Pani

Operations Manager

Andrea has a background in hotel management. He joined IFFO in February 2019 as Office Manager and Events Coordinator. In this role, he ran day-to-day operations at IFFO London’s HQ; liaising with the Beijing and Lima Offices and coordinating the IFFO member’s meetings and annual conferences. He aims to improve the day-to-day operations of MarinTrust, implementing process improvements to increase efficiency and profitability.