François Brenta has over 24 years of aquaculture industry experience in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, managing commercial aquaculture ventures with a focus on production, biosecurity, shrimp broodstock breeding, bio-floc technology, and consulting for private and government entities.

François started his career in 1993 working in the shrimp farming industry for Megalarvas hatchery in Ecuador. He also gained experience working with Redfish (Sciaenops ocellatus) at a hatchery in Martinique. In 1995 he was awarded a Master’s degree in Aquaculture Production and Project Management from the University of Montpellier.

After several years working as a fisheries consultant on various projects in Mexico, Guatemala, The Seychelles, and Peru, François returned to Ecuador to manage Lisamar's 280 hectares semi-intensive shrimp and tilapia polyculture farm. François advanced his career with a move to Brasil, where he managed both the 240 hectares intensive growout farms and hatchery operations of Tecnarao. In 2004, he moved to Madagascar, where he was Head of Mahajamba farming operations of Aqualma (Unima Group).

François was directly responsible for the management of 760 hectares of semi-extensive farming operations, which produced 4000 tons of Penaeus monodon per year, within ISO 9001:2000 and Label Rouge standards. Two hundred and fifty employees were under his direct responsibility and he was further responsible for managing a 11 million Euros annual budget.

François was most recently the Head of Biosecurity for Shrimp Business Unit and Head of the Shrimp Breeding Program at National Aquaculture Group (NAQUA) in Saudi Arabia. François was responsible for establishing the group's biosecurity system. His key achievements included establishing a quarantine system, first introduction of Penaeus vannamei in Saudi Arabia and sustained commercial introduction of over 20,000 broodstock, establishing biosecurity protocols at company level and advising at national level, managing a disease surveillance program and overseeing the diagnostic lab, establishing a corporate biosecurity certification program for 2700 employees, advising the business unit director on biosecurity strategies and risk management, establishing the breeding program with Penaeus vannamei under indoor biosecure biofloc technology, and supplying in excess of 50,000 commercial broodstock per year. Budget responsibilities accounted for 10 million US Dollars.

François recently advised the Australian Prawn Farmers Association on biosecurity risk management. François is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.