Executive Team
The Grobest management team’s professional and industry-focused experience drives the company forward. Comprised of experts from the world of biotechnology, animal nutrition, aquaculture and other associated technologies, this combined expertise of the team reflects Grobest’s global reach and the company’s success.
Grobest’s corporate executives proven track record of management excellence, as well as respective industry expertise—combined with the strong, advisory support of our Board of Directors—is a major factor in the company’s leadership and ever increasing worldwide success.
Hua Du
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Du joins Grobest after 11 years of service at Solvay, a leading global chemicals and materials company, where he held the position of President of Global Business Units, and Member of Executive Committee, leading several global business units with revenues of EUR 5 Billion, more than 10,000 employees, and technologies covering a wide range of end markets. Prior to Solvay, he worked at Rohm and Haas Company for 13 years, driving growth in Asia for its Electronic Materials group.
Mr. Du graduated from Peking University in China and holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), organic chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign U.S.A.
Shandy Chong
Chief Financial Officer
Shandy joined Grobest in June 2020 as Finance Director and has progressed into the capacity of Chief Financial Officer in March 2022.
Shandy has over 20 years of professional experience in finance specializing in business strategy, planning, integrations, restructuring, and operational excellence. She has had diverse industry experience covering Asia and United States in the retail, FMCG, manufacturing, hotels, and electrical components sector for publicly listed as well as privately held companies.
Shandy graduated from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with bachelor’s degree in Finance and received her MBA degree from the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. She is also a CPA in Washington State, United States.
Jennifer Kuo
Chief Technology Development Officer
Jennifer Kuo serves as Chief Technology Development & Sustainability Officer of Grobest Group. She joined Grobest in 1992, where she held various positions, including: General Manager of Animal Health Business Group, General Manager of Animal Health Research Institute, General Manager of Fuzhou Omnipro Industrial Co. Ltd, Vice President of Business Development & Planning, Vice President of Administrative Management, Director of Project Management, Special Assistant of Group Executive Director to assist business management, Supervisor of Aquaculture Research Center, and Supervisor of Quality Assurance Department. She was also appointed project manager to key projects and the leader of Ingredient Development team.
Ms. Kuo holds a master’s and a bachelor’s degrees from the Department of Aquaculture, National Taiwan Ocean University and has a broad experience in the aquaculture industry. She has also earned a professional certificate in Corporate Sustainability Management.
Edena Low
General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer
Edena has more than 25 years of legal, public affairs, social and environmental sustainability experience across the globe, spanning different industries. Most recently, she co-founded and was CEO at The AdviXory, after spending 11 years at Mattel Inc., where her last role was Global Vice President for Supply Chain Compliance and Sustainability. Previously, she had varied leadership positions at Group RCI, American Standard, Iomega and Ingram Micro, all US Listed corporations, after she began her career as a corporate lawyer at Singapore’s largest law firm of Allen & Gledhill.
Edena received her Bachelor of Laws from the University of London and is a qualified Barrister at Law of England and Wales, and an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Singapore.
Philip McWhirter
Chief Human Resources Officer
Phil joins us with extensive experience in business transformation, organization effectiveness and talent management. He was most recent role was Vice President of Human Resources Asia in G4S. Prior to that, he was the Chief Operating Officer, China and Vice President Human Resources in Asurion. In his earlier career Phil worked with Swiss based Schindler Group where he donned different leadership role like General Manager for Australia and Human Resources Director for Asia Pacific.
Phil has a MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management & Masters of Quality Management from the University of Wollongong.
Chi-Kang Ko
Founder & Chairman of the Board
Mr. Ko has devoted his entire life to the study of oceans and development of related industries. He has spared no effort in development of aquaculture and technologies used in aquatic products processing, and with all his passion participated in government projects engaging the elites of the industrial and academic worlds. Applying modern know-how and technology, he invented “green feed” that attains perfect equilibrium between industrial mass production and ecological harmony. Having greatly influenced the competitiveness of Taiwanese fishery and aquaculture industries, in 2011 Mr. Ko received distinction as “Pride of Fisheries” from the Fisheries Agency, Council of Agriculture, Taiwan, while in 2014, he won the Ocean Awards by National Taiwan Ocean University. Grobest Group, co-founded by Mr. Ko, has built up worldwide reputation and earned him multiple awards as well. He has served as the ever-bright beacon in the global aquaculture industry for more than four decades.
Ola Nordquist
Vice Chairman
Ola Nordquist serves as Vice Chairman of the board of directors.
Ola is also Partner and Head of Permira’s Nordic office. He has worked on a number of transactions including Grobest, Klarna, Pharmaq and TDC.
Ola has received a master’s degree in economics from the Gothenburg School of Economics and Commercial Law, Sweden, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Prior to joining Permira, he worked in London at Apax Partners on a number of buy-outs specifically covering the Nordic region, and in M&A at Lehman Brothers. Previously, he was a manager in the Strategy Division at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) in Washington, D.C.
Mei-Wei Cheng
Member of the Board
Mr. Cheng has broad and extensive experience leading multinational companies operating in Asia and China. He was the President of AT&T China, Chairman of HCP Packaging, Chairman & CEO of GE China, President of GE Appliance Asia, Chairman & CEO of Ford Motor China, and CEO of Siemens Northeast Asia & President & CEO of Siemens China.
He also served on the boards of Seagate and Diebold, as the Chairman of lnterplex and Pactera, and he was on the advisory boards of Magna, CRH International, Cornell, and Dartmouth.
Mr. Cheng received a BS in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from Cornell University, a MBA from Rutgers University, and graduated from Dartmouth's Tuck Executive Program and MIT's Program for Senior Executive. He was also a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in the state of New Jersey and California.
Kjell Bjordal
Member of the Board
Kjell Bjordal is a professional serving in boards of directors for various companies, mainly as chairman.
He has previously held the positions of: CEO of EWOS Group in years 1998–2014, CEO of Glamox Group in years 1989–1998, and CFO of Glamox Group in years 1985–1989.
Kjell holds an MBA degree, which he received at Norwegian School of Business and completed an Advanced Management Program at Wharton Business School.
Bao-Ji Chen
Member of the Board
Mr. Chen has dedicated his life to the study of animal science. In 1977, he completed a MSc degree in animal nutrition from the Department of Animal Husbandry at NTU, Taiwan. In 1989 he earned a PhD in animal science at Cornell University, USA, majoring in poultry nutrition. He holds a title of Professor Emeritus at the Department of Animal Science and Technology at NTU, with which he has been associated throughout his academic career.
His knowledge and devotion to research brought him numerous awards. In 1983, he was given Special Contribution Award by Taiwan Provincial Government; in 1991, the Council of Agriculture presented him with Outstanding Achievement Award; and in 2006, he received Academic Award from China Animal Science Association.
Mr. Chen’s rich career has spanned beyond academia. In years 1997-2000, he occupied the role of director at Animal Industry Department, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan. He also served as senior vice president of Asian-Pacific Poultry Federation in 2007-2011 and president of Agricultural Association of Taiwan in 2009-2011.
Wei-Huang Chen
Member of the Board
Mr. Chen obtained an MBA diploma from National Sun Yat-Sen University. He currently holds the post of member of the board and member of the audit committee at Grobest Group.
Mr. Chen previously held an office in National Taxation Bureau of Kaohsiung, Ministry of Finance, as director’s secretary. He also worked as adviser to Yuan’s General Hospital corporation aggregate. Besides his current role in Grobest Group, he is also a sole board member of JMC Electronics and a part-time lecturer at National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology.
