Matthew Newman

Matthew Newman

Matt Newman, joined AbacusBio in 2023. Matt is a Senior Economist with vast agricultural production experience and affinity with New Zealand livestock sectors. Over the last 25 years Matt has developed and led Economic teams for Beef+Lamb New Zealand, DairyNZ and MPI. Matt specialises in farm systems analysis, benchmarking, forecasting and environmental impact assessments. Before …

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Doug Bjelland

Doug Bjelland PhD

Doug is a Quantitative Genetics consultant and works with clients to help solve a wide range of genetic questions. This could be anything from building a genetic selection index, helping direct an elite or commercial breeding program, modelling specific investment or genetic scenarios, developing strategies around crossbreeding and inbreeding avoidance, or development of software, data …

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Caeli Richardson

Caeli Richardson PhD

Caeli discovered her passion for agriculture while working on a dairy farm in Canada. She broadened her practical experience on a local swine and cash crop operation before gaining a global perspective of on-farm challenges. Incorporating practical experience into her theoretical training allows Caeli to create innovative solutions to multifaceted problems.  She brings tremendous passion and positive …

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Martin Howes

Martin Howes Bs

Martin has an extensive background in corporate agriculture providing support to farms, from small to large businesses. Martin was responsible for implementing robust practices and systems to ensure high physical and financial performance and supporting managers and farm staff. Martin has been involved in managing several large farm development projects, a livestock trading farm and …

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David Kenny

David Kenny PhD

David is an Animal Breeder Consultant who focuses on a variety of aspects associated with genetic improvement in livestock production. This primarily involves modelling the effects and implications of animal breeding programs. Moreover, David possesses an in-depth knowledge of genetic and genomic analyses, including variance component and breeding value estimation. David takes pride in contributing …

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Megan Vasko

Megan Vasko MS

  Megan Vasko is a consultant at AbacusBio known for her adaptability, tenacity, and passion for digital whiteboard sessions. She’s primarily focused on programme management, namely AbacusBio’s largest collaboration to date, Bayer Crop Science. In her day to day, she takes the guesswork out of who is doing what, next. She keeps projects on track …

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Tom Kirk

Tom Kirk BCom

Tom’s background in finance, economics, and statistics provide a unique perspective on which clients can tap to understand insights about the trade-offs and economic issues facing the agricultural and food systems industries. Tom joined AbacusBio in 2014, firstly as an intern and then later as a consultant based in Edinburgh. His commerce background and ability …

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John Crowley

John Crowley PhD

John Crowley is the managing director of AbacusBio Canada, a subsidiary office established in 2023 in Alberta. He has a PhD in statistical genetics and over 15 years of experience in breeding and genetics, agri-business and data analytics initiatives.  John is passionate about delivering innovative and practical solutions that enhance the genetic potential, profitability, and …

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Jabus Kok

Jabus Kok MSc

Jabus first joined us in April 2021 as a research assistant and soon embarked on a PhD. His PhD is through Lincoln University in Christchurch, but he is also co-supervised by Peter Amer and Peter Fennessy here at AbacusBio. Originally from South Africa, Jabus completed a Bachelor’s degree in animal science and agricultural science, before …

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Madeleine Post (1)

Madeleine Post MSc

Madeleine joined us in May 2021, to extend our growing expertise in plant biotechnology. She recently finished a Master’s degree, looking at the biochemical and physiological effects of microplastic and phenanthrene toxicity (using marine macroalgae as a model). Originally from Hamburg, Madeleine spent a large portion of her childhood both in Europe and the Bay of …

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Loame Kok

Loamé Kok (Van Zyl) BSc

Loame first came to AbacusBio as an intern, while pursuing a genetics degree at the University of Otago. She is highly driven and brings her creative, pragmatic mindset towards her work at AbacusBio. At AbacusBio, she is involved in several projects looking at the development of practical packages to support the development of new plant products, …

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Nathalie Howes

Natalie Howes PhD

The opportunities presented to Natalie while growing up on-farm in the sheep, beef, and dairy industries, is what motivates Natalie to deliver impact to the agricultural sector. With an affable personality and grassroots core, Natalie works closely with clients to strategically apply scientific principles that deliver commercially relevant solutions. While based in AbacusBio’s Dunedin office, …

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Sam Harburg

Sam Harburg BAgrSc MBA

Sam is an all-rounded agricultural expert. He brings to you his deep technical expertise in livestock breeding, genetics, and production. Having gained an MBA from Deakin University in Australia, he also possesses a strong skillset in corporate agricultural management and economic analysis. Originally from Brisbane, Australia, Sam offers practicality and versatility in his quest to …

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Peter Fenessy

Peter Fennessy PhD

Peter is constantly curious, which may explain why he loves science so much. He loves digging into a problem and whilst he is technically very capable, he also looks at the world with a glint in his entrepreneur’s eye. Peter is a champion of science being practical and understanding the science and the commercial landscape …

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Tim Byrne

Tim Byrne PhD

Tim has over 15 years of experience as an applied scientist and a consultant. His work mantra is simple: good scientists need to deliver impact, not just solutions. A broad thinker and an in-depth leader, Tim can help you identify investment and technology opportunities and successfully integrate them into businesses to thrive. He currently heads …

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