Last week in Brussels we presented our annual Person of the Year award. This is the 13th such honor we have given since the award began in 2006.
The IntraFish Person of the Year is a unique and prized honor in an industry not known for congratulating itself or its leaders often enough.
Through the years, we have honored executives across the industry, most of whom continue to lead their companies and this industry year in and year out.
So, I think this is a good time to recall all the winners of our Person of the Year award to get a sense of the contributions each has made to their company and, more importantly, this industry.
2006 -- John Connelly, National Fisheries Institute (NFI):John Connelly will always be remembered as the firstIntraFish Person of the Year. Back when he received this honor, he was relatively new as the head of a trade association in need of some fresh ideas.
And he delivered by steering the group away from debates over generic marketing, which for years had divided NFI members, and toward a program that used doctors and dietitians to spread the "seafood-is-health" message.
He also took on the consumer press and its fascination with mercury in seafood, countering the old, tired claims with science and expert opinion. He led the creation of NFI's Global Seafood Market Conference, which has now become a must-attend event.
Today the organization appears in peak health, and its effectiveness in politics and other seafood issues is critical to the health of North American seafood suppliers.
2007 -- Atle Eide, CEO, Marine Harvest:Atle Eide, at the time, was honored for his work to merge together three global salmon farming giants, Pan Fish, Marine Harvest and Fjord Seafood, triggering further consolidation in the sector and laying the foundation for the future growth of Norway’s world-leading salmon farming industry.
Back in the early 2000s, Norway’s salmon sector was suffering from over-production and falling prices and many companies, including Pan Fish, where Eide was CEO, were on the verge of collapse.
Eide became CEO of Marine Harvest but shocked many when he left in late 2007. He has kept a much lower profile since his days at Pan Fish and Marine harvest, but last year Norwegian salmon producer SalMar named Eide its chairman.
2008 -- Larus Welding, CEO, Glitnir Bank: Back in 2008, Glitnir, formerly known as Islandsbanki, was considered “the seafood industry’s bank." (NB: from the ashes of the group, a new, healthy Islandsbanki was formed, and is alive and well today).
Glitnir was known for lavish operations and big parties at the Boston and Brussels seafood shows. For example, I recall watching American Seafoods' Bernt Bodal play guitar with members of the rock band Queen at a Glitnir dinner once. By the end of 2007, the bank claimed it had loaned the industry in excess of $3 billion (€2.5 billion).
But the bank, which played a big role in industry consolidation under Welding, was taken over by the Icelandic government in September 2008. The government a month later changed its mind and let the bank fail.
The shocking event was part and parcel of the global economic collapse of that time. Even more shocking, Larus Welding was sentenced to jail time in 2015 for breach of trust and fraud -- the lone person of the year to hold this dubious distinction -- and reportedly changed his name to Larus Snorrason. He has not been seen in seafood since.
2009 -- Jim Cannon, CEO, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP):Jim Cannon was nominated for his work with SFP, a NGO focused on sustainable seafood initiatives. He put himself and SFP on the map by helping fast-food behemoth McDonald’s develop annual whitefish sourcing guidelines and audits.
The group also helped Walmart form some of its early sustainable seafood strategies. Cannon still leads SFP, which today is one of the most influential sustainable seafood NGOs in the industry. SFP, although out of the management of Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) these days, was instrumental in introducing this fishery management tool to the industry.
Today, Cannon and his team are working on the group's new “Target 75” program, which has the ultimate goal of having 75 percent of the world’s seafood produced in a sustainable manner by 2020.
2010 -- Chris Lischewski, CEO, Bumble Bee Foods: At the time of the award, Chris Lischewski was recognized for leading an effort to take US canned tuna giant Bumble Bee private through a sale to private equity firm Centre Partners in 2003 and for his work in creating the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), a science-based organization committed to the sustainable harvest of global tuna stocks.
Later in 2010, Centre Partners sold Bumble Bee to Lion Capital. Lischewski has been a mainstay in the seafood industry for the better part of two decades, and has led significant product development during those years.
However, he has been embroiled in a price-fixing scandal of late that has him defending his reputation and company.
2011 -- Henry Demone, High Liner Foods: Perhaps one of the most respected executives in seafood, Henry Demone was our choice in 2011 for the countless moves he made as CEO of one of the largest seafood brands in the world.
He led a steady expansion of the company since 1992 before retiring (briefly) in 2015, after handling the helm Keith Decker. Demone in April retired again to make way for another new CEO.
He might definitely be out of the day-to-day seafood business this time around, but he has left a mark that won't soon be forgotten. In addition to leading his company through an era of innovation and product development, he has been a leading industry influencer throughout his time.
2012 -- Thiraphong Chansiri, President Thai Union: The only executive to be named Person of the Year twice (he shows up again further down this list) Chansiri in 2012 was recognized for his leadership of the world's largest seafood company outside of Thailand.
His slow, patient approach to growth served as a model for building a world-class seafood empire across the globe. There was a lot more to come from Chansiri, particularly as the sustainable seafood landscape shifted under his feet with slavery scandals and pressure from groups on tuna management.
2013 -- Martin Glenn, Iglo Foods Group: In 2013,Glenn was recognized for his his work to turn around Iglo Foods brands across Europe. He brought his marketing expertise to beloved but tired seafood brands, invested heavily in R&D and promotion, and lifted the fortunes of not only his company but the frozen seafood sector as well.
Glenn stepped down from his post as CEO at Iglo just weeks before receiving the IntraFishPerson of the Year award, but that didn't diminish his contribution to his company and the industry. Today, Glenn is far away from fish. He serves as the CEO of The Football Association, the oldest football (soccer) association in the world and is responsible for overseeing amateur and professional leagues in the United Kingdom.
2014 -- Ole Eirik Leroy - Chairman, Marine Harvest: In 2009, Ole Eirik Leroy was approached to take on the chairmanship of Marine Harvest. He stepped in to Marine Harvest during a major period of growth for the company. But 2013 was more than just a good sales year. Under Ole-Eirik’s leadership, the company began the year with a bang with the acquisition of half of Polish processing giant Morpol.
The move expanded the size of the company dramatically, and indicated that Marine Harvest’s ambitions went well beyond commodity production. Today, Leroy remains at the top of Marine Harvest's board and the company is far and away the dominant player in the global salmon farming sector with moves far bolder than the Morpol acquisition behind it, including ventures into feed, new value-added segments and even a chain of restaurants in China.
2015 -- Thiraphong Chansiri, CEO Thai Union: For the second time, Chansiri was recognized for his continuing commitment to build Thai Union. In 2015, Thai Union was in the process of acquiring US tuna brand Bumble to add to its Chicken of the Sea brand. Ultimately, the deal fell through, but it demonstrated Chansiri's drive to build a seafood empire.
Though the award fell just as the scandal around slavery, forced labor and IUU in Thailand picked up, Chansiri did not shrink away from the criticism, and instead admitted problems where they were found and systematically addressed them. Today, it's safe to say that Thai Union has made more strides than most seafood companies in improving the sustainability of its operations.
2016 -- Glenn Cooke, CEO, Cooke Aquaculture: Cooke was recognized as the 2016 Person of the Year because of his big ideas and the empire he was constructing
Two years later, it seems clear Cooke has a solid blueprint for growth of the industry and his company. Cooke is at the forefront of innovation in salmon farming, for sure, and leads Canada in this sector. But it has branched out in other ways across the globe with generally excellent results, from sea bass and bream producer Culmarex to Chilean operations Cupqueland to Icicle Seafoods (particularly if you discount the recent ban on the group's Washington State salmon farms).
Last year, for example, it acquired Omega Protein. All indications are there is more to come, as this family-owned business continues to expand under Cooke's leadership.
2017 -- Volker Kuntzsch, CEO, Sanford: Kuntzsch set about establishing a new management team at Sanford to execute his vision, one of many companies that he has revitalized in his long career. Kuntzsch began at Sanford with a completely new brand identify focused around not just profitability, but sustainability, worker satisfaction and adding value to what most in the company agreed was one of the world’s best resources.
The new hires alone would add millions in additional costs, but Kuntzsch assured the board that the strategy would pay off. And it has.
2018 -- Joe Bundrant, CEO, Trident Seafoods: Bundrant grew up in the seafood industry. His father, Chuck, is a legendary leader in this industry and Bundrant is following in those footsteps. He has helped build the multi-billion dollar company, which is now one of the largest in the world.
Most recently, the company's decision to diversify and invest in how it sold and marketed Alaska pollock has had an enormous impact on the pollock sector, both on the supply and consumer levels. The effort required leadership and that is exactly what Bundrant supplied in abundance.
So there you have it -- our list of the some of the top leaders who have and are helping to build the global seafood industry. Who's next? It all depends on the vision and hard work our next candidates show.
