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].
- Thomas Grieg is the new COO of Grieg Kapital, which is the aquaculture and ocean technology investment arm of Grieg Seafood.
Grieg has been with the company since 2020, serving as both an analyst and its investment director. He previously worked for Grieg’s Canada-based seafood division.
"As the new COO, Thomas will continue to oversee the venture capital investment portfolio, ensuring impactful growth and success for our companies within aquaculture, ocean technology, and industrial SaaS," the company said on LinkedIn.
- Nordic Aquafarms has announced a change of leadership, with Charles Høstlund assuming the role of CEO.
Høstlund, who has been on the board of Nordic since May 2022 and who was formerly the CEO of Norway Royal Salmon (NRS), led the company through its merger with salmon-farming giant Salmar in 2022.
Bernt Olav Røttingsnes, the outgoing CEO of Nordic, voluntarily stepped down.
The move comes as Nordic makes a major expansion into Humbolt County, California, U.S.A., where it is building a yellowtail kingfish farm. The company has assured investors that the leadership change will not affect its expansion plans in California or elsewhere.
“After several years of developing our land-based facilities in Norway and Denmark, we are now in a phase where the focus will be on successfully farming yellowtail kingfish, and we are sure that Charles is the right person to lead the group in this phase," Haakon Aschehoug, a member of the Grieg board, said of the appointment.
Høstlund emphasized that the company’s control of “the entire value chain from broodstock to sale” makes it “well-equipped … to become the leading player in the production and sale of yellowtail kingfish.”
- First Water has appointed former Aranarlax Marketing Manager Ómar Grétarsson as head of sales and marketing.
The Iceland-based company, which operates out of the nation’s largest seafood export harbor in Þorlákshöfn, is in the midst of a vast expansion, intended to conclude by 2029.
In a release, CEO Eggert Þór Kristófersson emphasized that Grétarsson will be key to this growth, saying that his “extensive experience in the salmon-farming industry is a valuable asset, especially as we continue to develop our operations.”
- Carlos Antiman is the new general manager of the Chilean division of Canadian salmon tech company Poseidon Ocean Systems (POS).
The company, which is based in Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada specializes in technology, including cages, to optimize salmon-farming operations.
The firm said that Antiman’s prior experience at Cermaq Canada and Mowi, as well as his expertise “in financial and operational processes, will be invaluable in driving our Chile operations forward.”
- Whitefish trading company Normarine has appointed Bjornar Klokk as head of trading.
Klokk comes to Normarine from Norwegian marine ventilation company Nyborg, where he was an area sales manager.
Normarine Managing Director Bjorn Fladmark praised Klokk in a release, saying that his "diverse background in the maritime industry and deep experience with international trade" were key to his appointment.
- Northbrook, Illinois, U.S.A.-based frozen seafood importer CenSea has appointed chef Peter Schonman as its first national culinary director.
In a LinkedIn post, CenSea said it was “pumped to welcome a new star to our crew.” Schonman is expected to focus on innovation and new product development, drawing on his experience as executive chief and sales manager at Pasta Montana.
CenSea has grown substantially since 2017, from bringing in USD 300 million (EUR 277 million) in sales to USD 350 million (EUR 323 million) in 2023. In 2024, the company was acquired by India’s Captain Fresh, an online platform on which seafood producers can match with and sell to retailers.
- James Binniker has been named the new director of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement.
Binniker will assume the position after two years in the office’s assistant director role, where he was responsible for policy and strategy regarding IUU fishing, foreign partner capacity-building, and enforcement support in the field.
Binniker brings extensive maritime and law enforcement experience to the directorship role. A 26-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, Binniker has held a variety of roles, including in law enforcement, search and rescue, environmental pollution response, and maritime security operations. At the end of his tenure at the Coast Guard, he worked his way up to chief of the Fisheries Enforcement Division in the Office of Maritime Law Enforcement Policy.
In a release, Binniker said that he would prioritize the “dedicated staff of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement to promote compliance with federal laws that support sustainable fisheries and protect marine mammals, endangered species, and national marine sanctuaries and continue to develop enforcement partnerships here and abroad so we can level the playing field for honest fishermen.”
- Steven Summerfelt has joined the Seafood Nutrition Partnership’s Seafood Nutrition Advisory Council (SNAC).
Summerfelt is chief science officer at Northfield, Wisconsin, based Superior Fresh and was formerly the director of aquaculture research at the Conservation Fund Freshwater Institute. His peer-reviewed published research has focused on ways to make aquaculture more sustainable and improve the well-being of farmed fish.
- Rustan Lindqvist is the new director of aquaculture at Laxey.
Some of his early work will include overseeing an ambitious new facility in the Westmar Islands, for which the Icelandic land-based salmon-farming firm recently completed a EUR 40 million (USD 42.7 million) funding round.
Before joining Laxey, Lindqvist worked at fish-farming firms worldwide, including Denmark’s Skagen Salmon, Japan’s Mirai, and Sweden’s Fortum. At these companies, his projects included increasing recirculating aquaculture production of both salmon and trout and the conservation of wild salmon.
On LinkedIn, Laxey said that Lindquist’s appointment represented “a significant step forward in our mission for sustainable aquaculture excellence.”
