Sunnyvale Seafood CEO Jeff Sedacca will be retiring from his position at the end of 2021, he confirmed in an email to SeafoodSource.
Sunnyvale was purchased in 2012 by Guolian, a Zhangjiang, China-based multinational producer and seller of shrimp and tilapia, and has become Guolian’s U.S. sales arm in recent years.
Sedacca, who has worked in the seafood industry for a half-century, said he plans to remain involved in the seafood industry through participation with board memberships with Sterling Caviar, the National Fisheries Institute, Global Seafood Alliance, the Mote Marine Laboratory, the Gulf Shellfish Institute, and The Brain Health Initiative.
“[I have] been engaged with Guolian since its founding, first as a customer, and in the last six years as president, then CEO of SSC,” Sedacca said. “[I am] very appreciative of the many opportunities to work both with and for the company.”
Sedacca guided Sunnyvale through the U.S.-China trade war initiated by former U.S. President Donald Trump, and through the COVID-19 crisis, which has upended global seafood trading. He was not immediately available to answer follow-up questions from SeafoodSource to a press release he issued on Sunday, 14 November, which did not name his replacement.
Sedacca said he plans to help Elverta, California, U.S.A.-based Sterling Caviar, which was acquired by Eugene Fernandez from Stolt Sea Farm in November 2020, to grow its caviar and sturgeon production and to expand its operations to include other finfish aquaculture production facilities.
Sedacca said he will also expand his work with the Mote Marine Laboratory, an independent, nonprofit marine research institution exploring conservation-focused research and education; with the Gulf Shellfish Institute, a nonprofit organization developing and promoting coastal water-quality and seagrass restoration using bivalve mariculture; and with the Brain Health Initiative, a Lakewood Ranch, Florida, U.S.A.-based nonprofit conducting research aiming to improve brain-health and -performance outcomes.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Sedacca
