Shannon Speight (nee Landmark) is passionate about the beef and livestock industry and has taken the reins as Chair of the Beef Australia’s Next Generation Committee. Graduating as a veterinarian from the University of Sydney, Shannon spent extensive time working in various roles. Her career commenced working as a vet with live export in North Queensland, followed by time with a mixed practice in Charters Towers and Longreach.
One of her most recent roles has seen her coordinate a large scale beef genomics project across Northern Australia. This project involves over 50 properties from Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, ovarian scanning over 30,000 heifers to develop a DNA suitable for northern cattle, focused on fertility traits. Shannon was integral in supporting producers with data collection, ovarian scanning and pregnancy testing and providing genomic and production feedback.
Shannon was awarded the Zanda McDonald Award in 2019. The Zanda McDonald Award highlights talented and passionate young individuals working in agriculture. This prestigious award allowed Shannon personal development experiences that included a mentoring trip and the opportunity to network with leaders in the Australasian Agricultural sector through the Platinum Primary Producers (PPP) Group.
Shannon has since founded Black Box Co, an innovative SaaS (Software as a Service) product that ingests raw data across the beef supply chain to inform prediction, forecasting and key production insights. Black Box Co has secured production data on over 340,000 animals and this product is now being trialled with five key commercial partners across the beef supply chain.
Shannon is currently completing her Masters of Business Administration through James Cook University and handling two young boys under two. In her spare time she enjoys working with her own cattle on her property in Far North Queensland.
