Joanne Friedrick

Lia Heifetz is the co-founder with Matt Kern of Barnacle Foods, a kelp-centric food company based in Juneau, Alaska that makes salsa, pickles and seasonings.

SeafoodSource: How did you get into the kelp-based food business?

Heifetz: My entry into the kelp food business was

Danny Walker is the CEO of Heartland Catfish Co., the largest catfish farming and processing company in the United States, with facilities in Itta Bena, Mississippi and Greensboro, Alabama.

SeafoodSource: What was the path, especially as it relates to the seafood/catfish industry, that you took to get where you are today?

Walker:

Linda Cornish is the founder and president of the Seafood Nutrition Partnership, a nonprofit that works at the intersection of public and environmental health with the goal of developing healthy people and a healthy planet.

SeafoodSource: Tell us about your job as president of the Seafood Nutrition Partnership (SNP).

Cornish: My role as president involves

Chris Brown is category manager for East Coast Seafood in Massachusetts and is the former general manager at Garbo Lobster, a subsidiary of East Coast. He is also a member of the 2018 class of the National Fisheries Institute’s Future Leaders Program

Jacob Valleau is business development manager at Miami, Florida-based Blue Star Foods, which is a provider of pasteurized refrigerated blue swimming crab.

SeafoodSource: Tell us a bit about your background and how you got into the seafood industry.

Valleau: I always say, “I didn’t choose the fish life, the fish life chose me.”

Eric Lam is vice president of Tai Foong USA in Seattle, an importer and distributor of seafood in North America that also operates under the Northern Chef and Royal Asia brands

Ufuk Atakan Demir started working at AKG Group in in 2007, where he is currently general manager of the aquaculture companies Ertuğ Balık Üretim Tesisi and More Su Ürünleri Ticaret A.Ş. Additionally, he is a board member of the Aegean Aqua and Animal Products Exporters' Association and the Izmir Aquaculture Producers Association

Meghan Russell is the founder and president of Pearl Oceans, a strategic sales and marketing firm that advocates for sustainable seafood brands from around the world. Russell works with Panacea Pearl Oyster Co-op and has recently joined Niceland Seafood as director of strategy and sales for North America.

SeafoodSource: What drew you to the seafood industry?

Russell: I actually fell into the seafood industry by accident

Lance Reiter is the senior director of sales and new business development for The Season Brand, a canned fish brand that is part of The Manischewitz Co. The Season Brand, which was once a kosher-only product, is gaining ground in the regular canned fish section with new products and configurations.

SeafoodSource: How has The Season Brand evolved since its inception?

Reiter: 

Jasmijn Venneman is commercial outreach manager for Seafood Trade Intelligence Portal (STIP), which is a social enterprise based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. STIP aims to improve the transparency and sustainability of the global seafood sector. Through its online products and tailored-made consultancy, STIP provides intelligence on established and upcoming markets and sourcing countries.

SeafoodSource: What is your role with