Jean-Paul Deveau is the President of Acadian Seaplants Limited (ASL), a biotech company specializing in the manufacturing, cultivating and processing of marine plants for global agri-chemical, animal feed and specialty ingredients markets. It also cultivates unique, edible seaweed products for the Asian food market. Acadian Seaplants exports value-added, seaweed-based products to over 70 countries throughout the world.

Mr. Deveau was born in Moncton, New Brunswick. He obtained his B.Sc. at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1979, his Bachelor of Engineering (Industrial) with distinction from the Technical University of NS, Halifax, NS (now Dalhousie University) in 1981 and his M.B.A. (Small Business) from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec in 1986.

Mr. Deveau’s involvement in the seaweed industry began in 1986 when he took the position of Director of Marketing for Acadian Seaplants Limited. In this capacity he established Acadian Seaplants in global agricultural markets emphasizing the use of kelp meal and seaweed extracts. In 1994, Mr. Deveau became the Vice-President of Sales and Marketing and was responsible for the development of sales and marketing for all product lines including kelp meal, seaweed extracts and cultivated edible seaweeds. In 1996, Mr. Deveau became Vice-President and General Manager of the company and managed four major manufacturing facilities in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick from a corporate office in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He became President of ASL on May 24, 2002.

Jean-Paul Deveau currently serves as Past-Chair of BioNova (the Nova Scotia Biotechnology & Life Sciences Industry Association) and sits on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (Nova Scotia Chapter), is Chair of the 2011 Canada Winter Games Host Society, is a member of the Board of Directors of RDÉE-Canada (Le Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité), and is a member of the Council of the International Seaweed Association (an international group of academic and industrial users of seaweed responsible for organizing international seaweed symposia).