Cermaq Chile has appointed Pedro Courard as its new managing director, replacing Steven Rafferty who will become the new CEO of Cermaq Group in Oslo on March 1.

Courard is currently production director of Cermaq Chile and has worked in the salmon industry for more than 20 years.

He has held senior management positions in companies, including Invertec, Scale Chile, Multi X and since 2019 as production director of Cermaq Chile.

Courard will take over as general manager on March 1.

Steven Rafferty was appointed as Cermaq Group's new CEO in October, afterGeir Molvik announced he would be stepping down after nearly six years in the role.

Rafferty's appointment at Cermaq is a return to the company -- the executive formerly served as CFO at the salmon farming group, and later as COO for global farming. He was appointed managing director of Cermaq Chile in 2019.

Molvik was named CEO of Cermaq in 2016, following the departure of Jon Hindar.