Singapore-based Barramundi Group has appointed James Kwan as CEO following the resignation of Andreas von Scholten. The appointment will take effect from the beginning of 2023.
Andreas von Scholten, who has been the company’s CEO since November 2019, will join Barramundi’s board and work as a director effective 1 January, 2023.
“I thank the board for the trust placed in me to lead the company at a juncture where it is continuing to execute on strategic and tactical operational changes that will lead us towards profitability,” Kwan said in a statement. “On the commercial front, we need to reassert our brands, innovate, and excite the market once again with creative offerings that have defined our earlier successes.”
Kwan has 15 years of senior management experience, primarily in the marketing and food and beverage sectors. H has been a part of Barramundi’s executive management team since December 2019. He previously served as Barramundi Group’s chief marketing officer until June 2020, and he added responsibilities of general manager of the company’s Singapore operations, and in early 2022, took over the company’s broodstock, grow-out, processing, and commercial operations.
“James is an excellent leader with strong credentials and a long list of achievements within the company, and I am very pleased that he has accepted the appointment as new CEO of Barramundi Group,” Barramundi Group Board Chair Hans den Bieman said.
Separately, Barramundi Group has recently appointed Alastair Smart as the general manager of Barramundi Group Australia. He took on the position as the company is considering options for divesting from its operations in Australia.
In April 2022, Barramundi sought approval for 13 new farming licenses to expand its Australian operations, with the long-term target of producing 30,000 metric tons (MT) per annum, up from its current annual production total in Australia of 1,600 MT.
The company said in May it hoped to raise up to AUD 350 million (USD 220.6 million, EUR 224.8 million at the time) for its barramundi-farming Kimberly expansion project near its Cone Bay operations off the coast of Derby, Australia.
Smart told SeafoodSource in an email in September 2022 he will use his experience of nearly three decades in the global aquaculture to support the company’s operations in Australia.
‘I have always been very impressed with the quality of Cone Bay barramundi and it is a privilege to carry the baton for this great Australian business, with its longstanding commitment to the local community and environment, and look forward to seeing it prosper with strategic partnerships enabling this exciting project for the Kimberley region to kick off next year,” Smart said.
Photo courtesy of James Kwan/LinkedIn
