Atlantic Sustainable Catch (ASC) announced it has named Jordan Mazzetta as the company’s new CEO.
ASC was formed in October 2021 when ACON Investments simultaneously acquired and merged Northern Wind, Suncoast Seafood, and Raymond O’Neill and Son Fisheries. Mazzetta, who also served as the company’s board director and partner, brings his extensive seafood industry experience to the role and replaces interim CEO Ken Melanson.
“Jordan is a highly experienced, successful, and well-regarded business leader. The combination of his experience, culture, and drive makes him an ideal fit for our company for the next stages of growth,” Melanson said.
Mazzetta, the son of Highland Park, Illinois, U.S.A.-based Mazzetta Co. founder and CEO Tom Mazzetta, has spent “nearly his entire life” in the seafood industry, according to an ASC press release. Prior to his new role as CEO of ASC, he spent years working for Mazzetta Co. before striking out on his own in 2019 as the founder, president, and executive vice president of “multiple seafood companies,” including Gloucester Seafood Processing and Beach Point Processing.
Mazzetta’s most-recent role was as president of wholesale bait and lobster company JBR Maine LLC and owner of seafood industry investment firm Highwood Harbor LLC. He has also served on the board of directors of the Global Aquaculture Alliance (now Global Seafood Alliance) and the Seafood Industry Research Fund.
“I am honored to be a part of our growing family and energized to take on this new role,” Mazzetta said. “The foundation of ASC has been built by incredibly entrepreneurial founders: Kenny, Mike, Luc, and the O’Neill family. ACON Investments has set the conditions for success. We all look forward to growing ASC together.”
Melanson told SeafoodSource in November 2021 the company has ambitions to grow to a USD 1 billion (EUR 919 million) platform in the next few years, and that the merger was made with growth in mind.
“It wasn’t the money that drove us to make the decision to sell. What made us sell was the fact that we could partner with like people and build something bigger," he said.
The merger of the three companies created a scallop- and lobster-producing powerhouse, with five locations in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the Canadian province of New Brunswick with a combined 600 employees. ACON Investments Partner Suma Kulkarni said the appointment of Mazzetta will compliment the firm’s growth goals.
“We look forward to Jordan’s leadership in the optimization and growth of the Atlantic Sustainable Catch platform and the underlying integrated businesses of Northern Wind, Suncoast, and Raymond O’Neill,” Kulkarni said. “While I have had the chance to get to know many of our team members since our October merger, I look forward to getting to know them better as we together seek to better sere or fishermen partners and valued customers.”
Photo courtesy of Jordan Mazzetta/Linkedin
