Insights and expertise
New direction for MSD’s aquaculture team in Scotland
COMBINING technical expertise and commercial experience to best serve the customers will remain the key business priorities for MSD Animal Health’s aquaculture team under the new leadership of Nikos Steiropoulos. Steiropoulos has almost 18 years’ experience in the industry, including most recently as junior vice-president of the Fish Veterinary Society, the specialist division of the British Veterinary Association (BVA). He is a well-known face in aquaculture circles and as of September 2018 he is leading MSD Animal Health UK’s aquaculture business as it enters a new and exciting period of growth across UK markets. His direct responsibilities will be continuing to develop long-term partnerships, seeking new commercial opportunities and creating solutions to customer needs. Speaking to Fish Farmer, Steiropoulos said: ‘I’m pleased to have joined the team at MSD and look forward to driving forward change within our structures, so that we can continue to be responsive to our customers’ needs. ‘As a fundamental step towards this end, my colleagues Camilla Wilson and Liam Doherty have recently embarked on empowered technical and account management roles and continue to put in the miles across Scotland to deliver their insights and expertise for customers daily. ‘The new combination of our technical expertise, as well as the commercial functions, is working very well. With all team members having previous hands-on working experience in aquaculture, we see that the overall customer experience and our potential to add value have both significantly improved. Accordingly, customer feed- back has been extremely positive to this new approach.’
Steiropoulos’s rounded knowledge of the industry and proven track record of facilitating long-term business relationships with customers and stakeholders strengthens MSD Animal Health’s offering in aquaculture.
It also reaffirms the organisation’s standing commitment to support sustainable growth across the sector, while driving forward higher health and welfare standards in farmed salmon and trout.
Speaking about the wider industry, Steiropoulos said: ‘Salmon remains Scotland’s number one food export, selling in more than 60 countries and contributing massively to our economy by providing jobs and millions of pounds of investment to some of the most rural parts of the nation.
‘And while the sector faces up to the challenges inherent in catering for sustainability versus demand from an ever expanding global market, we have a really positive story to tell about managing sustainable growth, hand-inhand with cutting edge scientific expertise.
‘I’m pleased to say that MSD has been at the forefront of that work, in full alignment with our mission to focus on the science of healthier animals.
‘Fish health is a multi-faceted area that requires constant vigilance and readiness – as in every other farmed animal production system.
‘The Scottish aquaculture industry has proven it is up to the task and new areas of best practice are constantly being developed.
‘At MSD, our customers are benefiting from our innovative range of vaccines, but also the suite of support services and technology such as our AQUAVAC Audit App, which is proving