Semex is pleased to announce that Jay Shannon has been appointed to the role of Global Dairy Solutions Manager.

As Semex's Global Dairy Solutions Manager, Jay is responsible for creating value through all of Semex's dairy solutions and genetic sales tools worldwide. Jay has served as a Project Manager at Semex since 2011, working on several key corporate assignments. Before joining Semex, Jay was the Director of Genetic Improvement and Classification for the Holstein Association of Canada. Led by Jay for over 15 years, this world-renowned classification program underwent a series of changes in evaluation and service delivery, and experienced an impressive 110% growth.

"We're very excited to have Jay as part of our team at Semex," says Brad Sayles, Semex Vice President Global Marketing. "Jay's knowledge of the dairy industry, the dairy cow, the dairyman and his needs are unmatched in our industry. In this role, Jay's skill set will be put to good use, adding value at the farm gate as he develops and manages Semex's dairy solutions in alignment with our corporate mission."

Jay attended McMaster University receiving his bachelor in mathematics, and continued on to the University of Guelph, for his graduate studies in animal breeding/genetics. His thesis work led to the introduction of measurements and computer-generated scores in Canada's classification system in 1993. Jay was also instrumental in establishing the Canadian Joint Classification Program in 2005, joining all Canadian dairy breeds into one classification system. Additionally, in 2007 he led the implementation of a multiple breed classification system in Australia.

Jay has been a long-standing member of several national Canadian boards, including the Canadian Dairy Network's Genetic Evaluation Board, DairyGen Research Council and was Chairman of the National Industry Standards Committee.