SEALORD - Key Persons
Al McGrath's life was heading in the wrong direction, until a friend told him about a deep-sea fishing opportunity on Sealord vessel, the Willwatch.
Armi is the manager at our wetfish factory in Nelson
Armi Chia is the manager of our wetfish factory in Nelson, which processes hoki in season from May to September and species such as orange roughy, dory and ling throughout the year.
A new migrant to New Zealand from Malaysia, Armi has quickly built an impressive seafood career in a short space of time.
He and his wife Jeslyn started here in 2013 with positions in the Talley's mussel processing factory, from where Armi worked his way up into supervisor and project manager roles, and Jeslyn into corporate roles.
Ben made his first move into a fishing career when, aged 17, he was one of the first participants in Sealord's work experience scheme.
That was enough to convince Ben that fishing was a good career choice so he gained a Sealord-sponsored place at the Westport Deep Sea Fishing School and joined the Aoraki as a cadet for eight weeks after graduating from the school.
From that point Ben steadily worked his way up through the ranks to his current role as First Mate on the Tokatu - the second most important officer on a ship. He is also the proud holder of a new skipper's ticket.
One of the things Charles likes most about his role as Resources Manager is that it combines fishing and sustainability in a practical way.
"I am often the interface between what we see on the water, and the science that runs alongside that. For example, a key part of my role is to monitor stock assessment data, and work with scientists, regulators and fishermen to keep this information updated," Charles says.
It can be quite a task to meet consumers' demand for healthy, high-quality seafood options - frozen, ready-to-eat or snack-sized. This is where Danny Sheridan comes to the fore.
As Sealord's Innovation Manager, Danny leads a small team of ‘innovation superstars' who do everything from developing new products for retail, export or food service to leading changes in factory processes.
"No day is ever the same. I could be in meetings discussing supplying new products to a customer, discussing a new retail product range, talking to suppliers or liaising with operations, sales or quality staff," Danny says.
He is responsible for researching and monitoring global trends in food and product development, integrating this knowledge into Sealord's annual innovation pipeline plan. Danny stays up to speed with trends and technological advances through regular catch-ups with a network of others in his field.
"The thing I like in New Zealand is that people are usually willing to share thoughts and discuss work challenges, which is quite refreshing coming from the world of UK business where there is less openness and collaboration.
"We have a great network of people both here and overseas and we catch up regularly. Having a genuine interest in food and new cool stuff always helps in a food business too," Danny says.
Originally from the north of England, Danny started his career as a chef in British restaurants and several Michelin Star restaurants in Europe.
When he decided he wanted to leave the kitchen but continue his passion for great food Danny took on an innovation chef role developing new products for UK retail giants Tesco, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer.
With this experience behind him Danny joined Sealord in 2014 as Group Innovation Chef. From there, he helped to grow Sealord's brand by expanding the product range.
In 2021 Danny was promoted to Innovation Manager and now leads the team behind Sealord's award-winning products.
Doug was appointed Sealord Chief Executive Officer on 1 October 2020.
Prior to Sealord, Doug worked as CEO of Hubbard Foods Ltd until joining Sealord in June 2011. Hubbard Foods is an FMCG cereal manufacturer who primarily services grocery retailers in New Zealand and Australia. Doug also spent 13 years at Lion Nathan starting in their graduate programme in 1992. During this time Doug spent seven years in the sales function and four years in marketing. His roles during this time included Regional Sales Director for Auckland region and Brands Director.
Doug also spent two years as part of the Lion Nathan strategic team where he led Lion's entry to the grocery channel in 1999.
Doug has a BCom/LLB from the University of Otago, a Masters in Business Administration from Henley Management College in England and an Advanced Management Program from Harvard University.
Glenn is from Ngāti Whakaue and Ngāti Maniapoto and is committed to Māori business success. He has held roles as advisor and governor of Māori post-settlement governance entities, land trusts, incorporations, commercial entities and service providers for over 25 years. He has experience in a range of industries including agri-business, fisheries, forestry, horticulture, tourism and commercial property. Glenn is a fellow chartered accountant (FCA) and is Chair of Sealord's Audit Committee.
Jason Plato has been at Sealord for more than 20 years. Initially based in Nelson, Jason moved to Japan where he opened the Sealord office and ran Sealord's North Asian business for six years. From there, Jason moved to the US where he was the General Manager of Sealord's North American operations for seven years. Jason moved back to NZ in 2008 to take up the role of General Manager International Marketing and ran Sealord's international sales and marketing network.</p
In 2013 Jason established Sealord's Australian office and took on the role of General Manager Consumer responsible for brand, Sealord's sales into Australia and NZ, as well as Sealord's Australian based aquaculture operations, Petuna Aquaculture and King Reef, of which he is a director of both.
Jason is now responsible for all group sales. He resides in New Zealand sharing his time between Australia and New Zealand.
Jesse Crasborn is the skipper (captain) of Sealord's factory trawler, the FV Rehua.
He is also at the helm of an award-winning sustainable fishing practice. In 2022 Jesse and his crew won the Innovation Champions Award at the Seabird Smart Awards in recognition of their commitment to seabird protection.
The 66m-long FV Rehua accounts for much of Sealord's annual ling and hoki harvest. This keeps a skipper busy enough, but Jesse still leapt at the opportunity to participate in the Seabird Net Capture Reduction programme run by the Deepwater Group.
That's because Jesse is passionate about sustainability and protecting the environment. He has been a member of the group for three years, helping with new ideas, devices and techniques to try and prevent seabirds interacting with, and accidently getting caught up in, fishing gear.
Some of the initiatives trialled on the FV Rehua are water cannons, offal management, coloured streamers, and rigid panels on the trawl. Jesse credits his crew with persevering through trials.
"It's definitely more work for the crew," he says. "When you're trying to fish and on a schedule, it takes a bit of effort to set things up, but everyone wants to be involved in helping to make a change."
Jesse notes that since he started commercial fishing in 2001, he's seen a positive shift towards environment and wildlife protection. He's proud to be part of a company that invests well in sustainability.
Kat wanted to be a truck driver from age 12, when she was inspired by a ride on a stock truck from her family's beef and sheep farm.
She succeeded with her career choice, driving heavy goods vehicles with trailers for some of New Zealand's carriers. After years of long-haul driving however, sleeping in a comfy bed at home rather than in her cab became increasingly appealing.
She still loved truck driving and was reluctant to hang up her keys, so when she saw Sealord's advert for a cold store driver she leapt at the opportunity of regular hours from a Nelson home base and…the keys to an 8-metre-long truck!
Kat loved her new job from the start. Instead of driving up to 900km a day, she now drives between five to 40km a day between factories, cold store, and off-site storage facilities. And when she's not driving, Kat's loading and unloading with a forklift, and helping to keep production running optimally.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Managing Director of ANZCO Foods
Mark Clarkson joined the Sealord Board in 2017 following his retirement as Managing Director of ANZCO Foods, a position he held for 13 years.
Mark has spent more than 40 years in the New Zealand meat industry occupying many roles in international business as well as serving on a number of primary sector organisation boards.
Job Titles:
- Alternate Director
- Alternate Director for Mr Kuraishi
- Nissui Executive Officer
Mr Asai, who is an Alternate Director for Mr Kuraishi, joined Nissui in 1984 and has extensive experience in global seafood trading, marketing and general management.
Mr Asai has significant experience working outside of Japan. From 1999 until 2004 Mr Asai was Sales Manager for UniSea Inc. (USA) and from 2017-2018 was UniSea Inc's Executive Vice President. Mr Asai served as President of Nissui USA, Inc. from 2018-2022.
In 2018 Mr Asai was appointed as a Nissui Executive Officer and in June 2022 was also appointed as a Nissui Director. Mr Asai is currently responsible for Nissui's international businesses.
Miriama Barlow is a trimmer onboard Sealord's vessel Ocean Dawn where she enjoys her roster of working six weeks at sea, followed by six weeks at home.
When she first started working for Sealord, Phuong relied on a handful of English language words to help her get through her shift.
Roan Taylor loves the physicality of working as a deckhand on Sealord's deepwater vessel Aukaha.