The Algalif team is made up of passionate and driven individuals dedicated to unlocking the powerful health benefits of nature’s most precious resources and nutrients. Please browse to meet some of our team members.
Key Staff
Orri Björnsson
CEO Algalíf Iceland
Orri has been working in the pharma and nutraceutical industries for nearly 25 years. He has extensive experience in building and starting up new plants, as well as in upgrading plants in many different countries. Orri has great competence in GMP, general quality, project management, recruitment, and operations, with an excellent track record in getting things done on time and budget.
Clara Robertsdottir
Human Resources Manager
Clara has a MLM degree in Leadership and Management with emphasis in Human Resources Management from Bifrost University and a B.Sc. in Biomedical Science from the University of Iceland. Prior to Algalif, she worked as a senior project manager within the pharmaceutical industry where she gained 12 years‘ experience in regulatory affairs. Clara is currently the Human Resources Manager where she is responsible for recruitment and many of the major core administrative functions of Algalif. She also oversees all regulatory processes, obtaining industry certifications and market-specific authorizations for the products.
Bjarni Þorsteinsson
Production Manager
Bjarni is a Dairy technologist from Dalum tekniske skole in Denmark, he joined the Algalif team in 2017 as the production manager. Prior to Algalif, he worked as production planner in the pharmaceutical industry and has extensive knowledge of production processes, Bjarni has also has many years production experience in the dairy industry in Iceland, Denmark and Kuwait.
Maria Bjarnadottir Ph.D.
Director Business Development
Maria is responsible for sales in Asia. She has a Ph.D. in micro- and cell biology from Lund University in Sweden. Maria worked for eight years as a team leader at DeCODE Genetics New Drug Discovery Unit before joining the Business Development Team at Medis ehf., daughter company of Teva Group, where she worked for 13 years and was responsible for various markets around the world.
Silja Dogg Gunnarsdottir
Key Account Manager
Silja is responsible for sales in Europe and for the local market of Iceland. Silja has a MIB degree in International Business from Bifrost University and a B.A. degree in History from the University of Iceland. Prior to Algalif Silja worked as Records Manager and an Assistant to the CEO of geothermal power company HS Orka. She has been a journalist, an editor and published a cookbook about eatable seaweed. Silja was a Member of the Icelandic Parliament for eight years and worked mainly on International and Nordic affairs.
Tryggvi Stefánsson, Ph.D.
Chief Operating Officer
Tryggvi has a Ph.D. in microbiology and genetics from ETH Zurich in Switzerland. He joined Algalif in early 2014 and between 2015 and 2019 he led the company’s R&D and Scale-up department as Science Manager. Tryggvi was recently promoted to Chief Operating Officer where he oversees the production, scale up and maintenance departments at Algalíf.
Sigurbjörn J. Björnsson, M.Sc.
Quality Assurance Manager
Sigurbjörn has a M.Sc. degree in Strategic Management from the University of Iceland. He has 15 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including audits, writing SOPs, working on deviations, CAPAs and validation projects. Sigurbjörn joined Algalif in 2015 and has been responsible for establishing a GMP culture in the company.
Oleksandr Virchenko, Ph.D.
Quality Control Manager
Oleksandr has a Ph.D. in Biology from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in Ukraine where he started his career in the research of various bioactive substances with antioxidative activity. He joined the Algalif team in 2017 as quality control specialist and later was promoted to the Quality Control Manager.
Jan Eric Jessen, M.Sc.
Head of R&D
Jan Eric has a M.Sc. degree in biotechnology from the University of Akureyri in Iceland. Prior to joining Algalif, he worked as Project Manager of Laboratories at the University of Akureyri. He has been a Cultivation Specialist at Algalif, where he is responsible for laboratory scale-up of production cultures. He is currently the head of Research and Development at Algalif.
Julia Gamaniek
Account Manager
Julia is the Account Manager responsible for North- and South America and an expert on Nutramunity Beta Glucan.
Svavar Halldorsson
Head of Sales and Marketing
Svavar has a comprehensive experience in public relations and media, policymaking, sales and marketing. He´s been a Radio and TV reporter, a consultant on business, environment and marketing and the first manager of Icelandic Lamb marketing agency. Svavar is a university lectured on marketing in Iceland and Italy and holds advanced degrees in Policymaking and Food culture, Communication and Marketing.
Jón Ingi Skarphéðinsson, M.Sc.
Supply Chain Manager
Jón Ingi has a M.Sc. degree in Innovation and Industrial Management from the University of Gothenburg. He joined Algalif shortly after graduation and as Supply Chain Manager he is responsible for activities directly concerning the supply chain such as inventory management, logistics and customer service.
Stefán Gudmundsson
Project Manager
Stefan studied Economics at University of Iceland. He has 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including factory construction and development. Stefan has also extensive training in GMP and Project Management, and experience training personnel on GMP. Stefan joined Algalif in 2013.
Oleksandr Holubenko
Head of Cultivation
Oleksandr has an M.Sc. in Microbiology from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in Ukraine, before joining Algalif, he worked as an R&D scientist in the Microbiology and Analytical chemistry fields. Oleksandr started at Algalif in 2017 as a cultivation specialist and was later promoted to Head of Cultivation. As a Head of Cultivation, he is responsible for the scale-up cultivation chain, contamination control, and cultivation optimization.
