US seafood restaurant chain Captain D’s said Wednesday it is promoting Nan Ward to chief operating officer. Ward has been with the company since 2012, most recently as chief people development officer.
In her new role, she will oversee all company operations, human resources, training, and personnel development.
Captain D's recently announced a third consecutive year of same-store sales growth. New franchise development agreements will allow the chain to expand into new markets in the northeastern United States and Canada, the company said.
The Nashville, Tennessee-based chain operates more than 530 restaurants in 23 states.
In December, Captain D's was drawn into a controversy over the importation of Russian-origin pollock into the US market.
Alaska Republican Senator Dan Sullivan singled out the restaurant chain during a speech on the Senate floor, in which he implicated Captain D's as one of the companies using "slave labor Uyghur seafood from China" and reprocessed seafood from Russia.
"At a certain point, Captain D's, you're one of the companies, that's going to catch up with you. It's going to catch up with you," he said. "Not a good business model to be helping fund the Putin war machine."
Captain D's has traditionally used Russian-origin pollock in a number of its fried fish sandwich menu items.
Last year, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Biden signed an executive order that prohibits the importation of unaltered seafood originating in Russia. More recently, the executive order was updated to include Russian-origin fish reprocessed in China and other countries and shipped to the United States.
