To keep up to date with the latest personnel changes across the seafood industry, SeafoodSource is compiling a regular round-up of hiring announcements and other personnel-related shifts worldwide. If you have an announcement, please send it to [email protected].
– James Benson is the new director of meat and seafood at e-commerce platform Pepper.
Benson previously served as the executive director of sales and operations at Shinkei Systems, where he launched subsidiary Seremoni Fish, a company which partners with fishermen through the use of automated on-board ikejime technology.
After leaving Shinkei, he served as the director of sales and marketing at U.S. wholesaler Sunnyvale Seafood.
Benson announced his new position on LinkedIn, where he described Pepper’s business model.
"Similar to you buying products off Amazon, now with Pepper, a chef can source fish from their distributors at the click of a button, any time of day, pulled from live inventory," he said. "If you're a boots-on-the-ground sales rep or an inside order taker, you can finally focus on high-value tasks rather than the menial ones. The end results are fewer fires to put out, larger-sized orders, more time to grow new business, and higher customer satisfaction. We're already servicing over 400 distributors nationwide including numerous seafood companies."
Benson’s new role at the company is to help businesses still operating without e-commerce capabilities – and facing what Benson called associated “longstanding industry challenges” – adapt to the new model.
– ScaleAQ Chile CEO Carlos Arenas has resigned.
After 19 years working for the aquaculture firm, Arenas said that he looked “forward to stepping aside and enjoying more time with my family in the years to come.”
“It has been a true privilege to lead our talented and dedicated team throughout this journey,” he said.
Arenas will continue on with ScaleAQ as a senior consultant, the company said in a release about the news.
Arenas started with the company in 2006, serving first as a manager at Norwegian aquaculture technology supplier Steinsvik. When that company merged with Scale AQ and AquaOptima in 2019, Arenas led the Chilean subsidiary.
ScaleAQ Group CEO Audun Sivertsen said that Arenas “has been a passionate advocate for robust technology in the aquaculture industry, and thanks to his dedication, he has earned a strong reputation within ScaleAQ Chile.”
The company said that ScaleAQ CAS Managing Director Ben Øksnes would serve as interim CEO until a replacement was announced.
– David Witherell is retiring from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) after 33 years at the organization.
The NPFMC is a regional fishery council which helps manage the 200-mile exclusive economic zone off the coast of Alaska. As its executive director, Witherell led the organization and planned and implemented the first two Managing Our Nation’s Fisheries conferences, as well as two national meetings of the Science Coordination Subcommittee of the U.S. Regional Fishery Management Councils. He also served on the organization's Council Coordination Committee, working with leadership from all of the nation’s regional fishery management councils.
Witherell first joined the council in 1992 after serving as a resource assessment biologist for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
“I loved that job – great colleagues, going to sea regularly on fishing boats and research surveys, analyzing data, preparing stock assessments, and publishing scientific papers – but when I saw a job vacancy with the North Pacific Council, which had a great reputation for management based on science, I applied immediately,” Witherell said.
His first role at the NPFMC was as its groundfish plan coordinator, a position in which he served as an analyst working on regulatory amendments related to bycatch reduction, wildlife protection, ecosystems-based management, and nature conservation.
Witherell is also the author of over 20 peer-reviewed scientific articles, informational summaries, and brochures intended to educate the public; he is also an American Fisheries Society Certified Fisheries Professional.
“The great reputation and success of the Council is due in many ways to its dedicated, responsible, intelligent, and hard-working staff who have been employed through the years. I now leave the Council with a top-notch staff, and I am very confident that the Council will continue to develop cutting-edge approaches to fisheries management,” Witherell said. “It’s been an honor and privilege to work with members of the Council and its advisory bodies, Council staff, agency staff, and the public to find scientifically informed, balanced solutions to problems in the fisheries.”
According to a release about Witherell’s retirement, the NPFMC is currently seeking a replacement and expects to fill the executive director position shortly.
