To keep up to date with the latest personnel changes across the seafood industry, SeafoodSource is compiling a regular round-up of hiring announcements and other personnel-related shifts worldwide. If you have an announcement, please send it to [email protected].
– High Liner Foods has announced that Kimberly Stephens is its new chief financial officer, taking the place of Darryl Bergman, who will continue to advise the company until the beginning of October to support Stephens’ transition.
Stephens, a certified public accountant, rises to the leadership role from the company’s corporate finance team, where she has served as vice president of finance and investor relations since 2022. Previously, Stephens served as VP of finance at Acadian Seaplants and CFO at both Appili Therapeutics and Immunovaccine Inc.
In a press release announcing the news, Highliner President and CEO Paul Jewer thanked Bergman for his contributions to the company and called Stephens “a proven leader who brings deep knowledge of our business and strong financial expertise to the role.”
“She is very well placed to now serve as our CFO, and I am confident she will play a key role in our continued success as we advance our ambitious growth agenda,” he said.
Stephens said she was honored by the promotion and excited to push the firm forward.
“As a trusted source of healthy and sustainable protein, we have significant potential for further growth in a fragmented and dynamic global seafood industry. I look forward to working with our talented team to create value for our shareholders and support the continued success of High Liner Foods,” Stephens said.
– Lisa Weddig, the longtime chief science officer of the Reston, Virginia, U.S.A.-based National Fisheries Institute (NFI), has announced her retirement.
NFI President and CEO Lisa Wallenda Picard said that Weddig is “admired, respected, and relied upon by the seafood community and has been for almost two decades.”
“Her professional reputation is sterling, but her personal demeanor and approach to things has always been a comfort to those who’ve worked with her,” she said. “She’s been our go-to specialist with solutions for a long time, and we congratulate her on a well-deserved retirement.”
Weddig will be replaced by Jon Woody, who served most recently as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) director of preparedness and emergency programs. Weddig, the NFI said in a release, will help train her successor and share regulatory and food safety responsibilities until the 2026 Global Seafood Market Conference in January.
Woody spent 24 years at the FDA and previously worked for the education arm of the National Food Processors Association and the Food Processors Institute.
His work at the FDA focused mostly on food safety preparedness, food defense programs, and the development and implementation of the U.S.’s Food Safety Modernization Act.
Wallenda Picard said that Woody “will be a tremendous resource to our members.”
“Regulatory compliance, policy development, and emergency preparedness are a Holy Trinity in food safety,” she said.
– Glenn Grady is the new interim CEO of Baffin Fisheries, taking the helm after former CEO Chris Flanagan announced his retirement on 29 August.
The Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada-based company is wholly owned by five Inuit hunter and trapper associations in Nunavut; its stated goal is to sustainably harvest coldwater shrimp and turbot for the benefit of the region in order to effect economic self-sufficiency in Nunavut.
In the announcement about Flanagan’s retirement, the company said that Flanagan will consult with the company and mentor new employees to support the leadership transition.
“Your impact on this company – and on all of us – has been truly lasting. It’s been a privilege to work alongside you, and we wish you nothing but the best in your next chapter,” Board Chair Kelly Kilabuk said of Flanagan’s retirement.
link