WHO WE ARE

Henrik Österblom has a PhD in marine ecology from Stockholm University, where he is professor of environmental science. He is chair of the Natural Capital Partnership Committee, Stanford University, chairman of the SeaBOS fundraising foundation and board member of Race for the Baltic fundraising foundation. He has served as theme leader, deputy science director and science director at the Stockholm Resilience Centre between 2007 and 2022. Starting from 2023, he is leading the Anthropocene Laboratory at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Carl Folke is a systems thinker in integrative science for sustainability. He has broken new interdisciplinary ground across the natural and social sciences and contributed to the development of new areas of research, concepts and approaches that have spread in science, education, policy and practice and more recently into the business community. His major research focus is on social-ecological systems and resilience thinking and he is recognised as a leader in these research areas worldwide. He is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the US National Academy of Sciences.

Thiraphong steers Thai Union’s global business and growth strategies. He has extensive experience in business management, most notably in the area of mergers and acquisitions. Since 1995, Thiraphong has managed the expansion of the company’s global brand portfolio, which includes markets-leading international brands Chicken of the Sea (U.S.), John West (U.K.), Petit Navire (France), Parmentier (France), Mareblu (Italy), King Oscar (Norway) and Rügen Fisch (Germany), and leading Thai brands Sealect, Fisho and Bellotta. In March 2016, Thiraphong was awarded ‘No. 1 Best CEO in Thailand’ in an annual Asia’s Best Managed Companies Poll by FinanceAsia. Thiraphong was also awarded the Best CEO under the Agro & Food Industry category for the 7th consecutive year by the annual Investment Analysis Association (IAA) 2015/2016 poll. Thiraphong joined Thai Union Group in 1988. Prior to his appointment as President and CEO, he held several executive positions within the Group. Thiraphong received an MBA from the University Of San Francisco, California and a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Assumption University, Bangkok. His interests include marathon running, reading, and collecting works of art.

Helene Ziv-Douki is President and Group Leader for Cargill’s global Aqua Nutrition business within the Animal Nutrition & Health Enterprise (ANH). With more than 2,000 employees in 16 countries and 40 plants, Cargill Aqua Nutrition is one of the largest suppliers of aqua feed in the world. Helene is a proven leader with a track record for building, growing and transforming businesses while delivering for customers and her team. She has a passion for customer-driven sustainability and is proud Cargill Aqua Nutrition is making a positive impact for the planet together with customers and suppliers. Helene has been promoting diversity and inclusion her entire career and is known for being a people-first leader with a strong focus on developing teams and talent.

Dr. Naoko Ishii is a professor and executive vice president at the University of Tokyo, where she is also an inaugural director for the Center for Global Commons, of which mission is to catalyze systems change so that humans can achieve sustainable development within planetary boundaries. She is of a view that academia can and should play an active role in mobilizing movements with policymakers, business and civil society towards a shared goal of nurturing stewardship of the global commons; stable and resilient planetary earth system. Under her vision, the Center for Global Commons has been collaborating with reputable international research institutions in the area of sustainability, and launching projects with Japanese business focusing on energy transition, food system, and circular economy. Before joining the university in 2020, Dr. Ishii served the Global Environment Facility (GEF) as CEO and chairperson. During her tenure of 2012 to 2020, she formed GEF’s first mid-term strategy, GEF 2020, focusing on the transformation of key economic systems and collaborating with multi-stakeholder coalitions. She holds a B.A. in economics and a Ph.D. in international development, both from the University of Tokyo. She published several books among which two are awarded by academic prizes.

Martin has been in the seafood sector for over 40 years. He has been with Austral Fisheries since 1997, and held other roles such as Chair of the international Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators; member and Chair of Australian Industry Associations; and Board member of the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies. He worked for the Australian Government for 12 years, culminating in 5 years as General Manager Fisheries at the Australian Fisheries Management Authority and, earlier, spent several years as a deckhand on demersal longline and trawl vessels. He holds a BSc from Victoria University of Wellington (NZ), a Graduate Diploma in Fisheries Technology from the Australian Maritime College, and is a passionate recreational angler.

Thiraphong steers Thai Union’s global business and growth strategies. He has extensive experience in business management, most notably in the area of mergers and acquisitions. Since 1995, Thiraphong has managed the expansion of the company’s global brand portfolio, which includes markets-leading international brands Chicken of the Sea (U.S.), John West (U.K.), Petit Navire (France), Parmentier (France), Mareblu (Italy), King Oscar (Norway) and Rügen Fisch (Germany), and leading Thai brands Sealect, Fisho and Bellotta. In March 2016, Thiraphong was awarded ‘No. 1 Best CEO in Thailand’ in an annual Asia’s Best Managed Companies Poll by FinanceAsia. Thiraphong was also awarded the Best CEO under the Agro & Food Industry category for the 7th consecutive year by the annual Investment Analysis Association (IAA) 2015/2016 poll. Thiraphong joined Thai Union Group in 1988. Prior to his appointment as President and CEO, he held several executive positions within the Group. Thiraphong received an MBA from the University Of San Francisco, California and a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Assumption University, Bangkok. His interests include marathon running, reading, and collecting works of art.

Helene Ziv-Douki is President and Group Leader for Cargill’s global Aqua Nutrition business within the Animal Nutrition & Health Enterprise (ANH). With more than 2,000 employees in 16 countries and 40 plants, Cargill Aqua Nutrition is one of the largest suppliers of aqua feed in the world. Helene is a proven leader with a track record for building, growing and transforming businesses while delivering for customers and her team. She has a passion for customer-driven sustainability and is proud Cargill Aqua Nutrition is making a positive impact for the planet together with customers and suppliers. Helene has been promoting diversity and inclusion her entire career and is known for being a people-first leader with a strong focus on developing teams and talent.

Steven Rafferty took up the position as CEO in March 2022. He joined Cermaq in 2008 holding the position as CFO and later COO Farming in Cermaq until 2010. He re-joined Cermaq in 2019 as Managing Director in Chile. Rafferty has a broad experience from aquaculture since 1993 and has been executive in some global companies with positions as MD of Skretting, CFO of Morpol and CFO in Mowi, Steven Rafferty has been working in UK, Chile, USA, The Netherlands and Norway during his career.

Dr. Sujint Thammasart graduated with honors in Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine from Kasetsart University in 1978. Since then, he has been working for Charoen Pokphand Group. In the beginning, he was responsible for health and diseases prevention for poultry, pig and dogs in CP Group. Later, he was assigned to be in charge of Pet Food Nutrition and other animals not in the main species. When CP Group started to invest in marine shrimp culture business in 1985, he became Managing Director of this project and also spent a total of 7 years in Shrimp Culture Business Indonesia where the largest shrimp farm in the world is located to design and operate shrimp farm business. Since 2016, he has been a Chief Operating Officer for Aquaculture Business and responsible for CP Aquaculture Business on Production and R&D Unit. His core responsibilities are shrimp and fish farming, shrimp & fish hatcheries, genetic improvement and broodstock, aquatic feedmill, and the research and development unit including formula and feed nutrition on aquatic animal. He has also been responsible for CP's aquaculture projects worldwide.

Masaru Ikemi joined Maruha Nichiro in 1981 after graduating Kyoto University (Department of Fisheries / Faculty of Agriculture). He has more than 30 years of experience in overseas operations; managed Solomon Taiyo Limited, skipjack fishing and canned foods producing company co-founded by the Government of Solomon Islands, and also took command of the subsidiaries in Asia joining the management of Kingfisher Holdings Ltd. in Thailand. His activity at Kingfisher Holdings started in 1999 with 5-year assignment, followed by another 4-year assignment from 2010. After managing the Corporate Planning Department as the General Manager, in 2017 he was appointed as the Director and the Managing Executive Officer in charge of managing corporate administrations such as general affairs, personnel, investor relations and public relations, accounting, finance, and internal auditing. Since April 2020 he has been leading the entire business of the company on his present position.

Bastiaan joined Nutreco in January 2019, at Nutreco’s Livestock feed business line, Trouw Nutrition, as General Manager for the Benelux, Scandinavia and France before becoming Managing Director for Trouw Nutrition Europe & Central Asia in November 2022. Bastiaan took over as CEO for Skretting, Nutreco’s aquaculture business line, in June 2024, joining Nutreco’s Management Board at the same time. Before joining Nutreco, Bastiaan worked in various commercial and operational leadership roles at SHV daughter company, Makro in Brazil. Prior to joining Makro, he worked at Royal Dutch Shell for four years. Bastiaan studied at the University of Groningen and holds a Bachelor and Master of Arts in International Organisation and International Relations. Bastiaan has extensive knowledge and expertise in the agri-industry and has a passion for sustainable farming. He is committed to driving business growth through investment and innovation and developing and delivering strategies across the value chain from feed and nutrition to salmon farming, salmon sales, and seafood processing. “I’m passionate about sustainable and healthy solutions to farming across the full supply chain, without a doubt the biggest challenges facing our industry right now. Building on Skretting’s strong team spirit and culture, our world class innovations and our great reputation, I am sure will bring great success for our teams, our customers and support our vision for Feeding the Future.”

Shingo Hamada holds a master’s degree in fisheries science from Tokyo University and joined Nissui in 1983. He started his career in the Central Laboratory and after that he moved to the Food Products Division in 1995, then held positions such as a manager of processing plants in Japan, the CEO of a joint venture company in China and the person responsible of the Dpt. of Production Control, Product Development as well. He supervised the Food Products Division as a managing director from 2017 and then served as the COO supporting the former President Mr.Matono. He took over the President and CEO of Nissui from Mr. Matono in June 2021. Most of his career in Nissui is related to food processing plants and production control, so he has abundant experience and knowledge in these fields.

Eun Hong Min took up the position as CEO in December 2022. Prior to joining Dongwon Group in 2021, he was equipped with 28 years' experience in end-to-end integrated sales operation, multiple brand market strategy & planning, customer centric job and strong stewardship governace in the commodity, skin and cosmetic industry. He is very competent with successfully resolving various business issues by leveraging end-to-end approach and utilizing both macroscopic and microscopic views. Having such global experience through various channels and countries such as 10 ASEAN countries, North East Asia and Great China, he was able to grasp strategic decision to grow the business and execute trade marketing to embrace the organization.

Martin has been in the seafood sector for over 40 years. He has been with Austral Fisheries since 1997, and held other roles such as Chair of the international Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators; member and Chair of Australian Industry Associations; and Board member of the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies. He worked for the Australian Government for 12 years, culminating in 5 years as General Manager Fisheries at the Australian Fisheries Management Authority and, earlier, spent several years as a deckhand on demersal longline and trawl vessels. He holds a BSc from Victoria University of Wellington (NZ), a Graduate Diploma in Fisheries Technology from the Australian Maritime College, and is a passionate recreational angler.

Wenche is an experienced leader in sustainable business globally. Building on over 15 years of experience in corporate sustainability and policy, she is currently the Director of Strategy and Partnerships in the science-business initiative SeaBOS and the founder of Wega Advisory. Since its foundation in 2018, she has been the Chair of UN Global Compact Norway, and founding member of the UN Global Compact's Ocean Stewardship Coalition, working with business, policy makers, science and the UN system to build awareness of the critical role of ocean stewardship in the 2030 Agenda. Prior to joining SeaBOS in January 2022, Wenche was Global Head of Sustainable Development in Cermaq Group; a management consultant in PwC, and a project manager in DNV GL, working on international renewable energy projects. She has experience from the Norwegian Foreign Service, in journalism, the EU system and the World Bank.

Ellinor joined SeaBOS as an Executive Assistant in January 2021 and has several years’ previous experience as an executive assistant and has worked both for the Artistic and Creative Director at Stockholm Concert Hall as well as for executives at Microsoft Sweden and Fortum. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration from Macquarie University in Sydney Australia and an Associate Degree in Event Management. She has work with events such as the Nobel Prize Concert, The Royal Philharmonics on their European tour and Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia. Ellinor is actively involved in different volunteer foundations in Sweden and is a qualified grief therapist. She has a huge interest for the ocean and marine life and is a keen free diver in both international as well as Swedish cold waters.