When you look back at what’s made the IntraFish Person of the Year, one thing stands out: change.

Few executives have as much experience at high-profile companies and high-profile initiatives as Volker Kuntzsch, and even fewer have left their organizations having changed them for the better. Not that it’s been easy.

In fact, Kuntzsch’s first year at Sanford as its new CEO was a difficult one. The group struggled across its wild fish sector, and Kuntzsch saw that within its diversity of species, the company still was playing the commodities game.