Roxanne Nanninga, the founder and CEO of TRUfish and former executive with the Environmental Defense Fund, has been hired as Thai Union’s new sustainability director for North America.
In the newly created position, Nanninga will oversee the implementation and coordination of sustainability strategy for Thai Union and Chicken of the Sea in North America. She will head up expansion of the company’s traceability and consumer education programs.
“With the challenges and opportunities that sustainable seafood brings, Thai Union has a leadership role to play through the delivery of our SeaChange program,” Darian McBain, Thai Union’s global director of sustainable development, said in a press release. “With her broad-based NGO and private-industry experience, Roxanne is a leader who can affect lasting positive change across the U.S. industry and the world’s oceans.”
Nanninga was a seafood markets specialist at the Environmental Defense Fund’s Fishery Solutions Center, where she was responsible for working with the seafood industry to improve supply chain efficiencies and promote well-managed fisheries.
One of her most notable accomplishments at EDF was development of the Pacific Groundfish Markets Development Initiative, a coalition of seafood businesses, NGOs and fish providers dedicated to durable markets for seafood products from the U.S. West Coast, according to Thai Union.
In addition, as the founder and CEO of TRUfish, Nanninga created an integrated seafood fraud--prevention program that combines global food fraud intelligence and testing.
In 2016, Chicken of the Sea launched Trace Your Can, a comprehensive program allowing consumers to trace their seafood from ocean to plate.
