Peter Pan Seafood Company has replaced its chief financial officer.
Mike Galan will replace Mark Foster, who was hired as Peter Pan’s CFO in March 2021.
Galan most recently served as CFO at Hartung Glass Industries in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., for eight years. Prior to that, he was director of financial planning and analysis at Trident Seafoods for several years. Galan will focus on implementing finance and accounting processes that will aid the company in its efforts to produce more value-added products, Peter Pan said in a press release.
“Peter Pan is in a growth mode,” Galan said. “Transitioning from a commodity focus to a focus on value-added products at a company is really exciting; it shows the company recognizes the value of that and is willing to put in the work.”
Galan said he is “eager to develop processes that will integrate the numbers with the decision-making process for the operations and sales team to ensure we’re putting out the best end product forms for our customers and our business.”
Galan brings 20 years of finance, accounting, and “most importantly, seafood experience to this role,” Peter Pan Owner and Chief Growth Officer Rodger May said.
“He is great at what he does and will be an asset to the Peter Pan team as we continue our focus on a customer-first culture and bringing more value-added products to our customers,” May said.
Bellevue, Washington, U.S.A.-based Peter Pan has been on a hiring spree over the past year as it shifts its focus to value-added processing. In early April, Peter Pan announced that it hired Rich Wolverton as the company's new vice president of sales. Wolverton’s foodservice distribution experience will help Peter Pan focus more on value-added products for retail and foodservice, according to May.
Peter Pan has made significant changes since it came under new ownership in January 2021. In March 2021, it announced that Barry Collier would step down as CEO, and since then, has hired several new executives, including former Silver Bay Seafoods COO Jon Hickman to serve as its vice president of Alaska operations. In March 2021, Peter Pan lured Kevin Larsen away from Bornstein Seafoods to serve as its vice president of international sales and business development, though Larsen returned to Bornstein Seafoods on 1 March, 2022. In June 2021, it hired Michael De Caro as its new vice president of retail sales and product development. Within the past year, the company made several additional hires to bolster to its finance, development, and sourcing teams.
A surge in consumer demand for seafood during COVID-19 led Peter Pan to shift its focus to more value-added products made in the U.S. geared toward the retail and foodservice sectors.
"We have significantly moved away from a commodity company to a value-added company. We've already launched select value-added products such as new portion sizes,” May said.
To that end, it is retrofitting its one million square feet of production space to “meet today's needs, which are different from the old Peter Pan and our industry in general,” May said. The company is adding portioning machines and more vacuum packaging capacity.
“As we work with customers to meet their exact needs, there will be more new value-added products launching, including a planned frozen marinated product line we’re working on now,” May said.
Photo courtesy of Peter Pan Seafoods
