Wally Stevens, who has held various leadership roles with the Global Seafood Alliance (GSA) for the past 14 years and is currently chief executive officer (CEO), is retiring at the end of December 2021, the non-profit organisation has announced.
Brian Perkins, who joined GSA as chief operating officer (COO) on 1 March, will assume the role of CEO, effective 1 January 2022.
While stepping away from his day-to-day responsibilities, Stevens will remain a member of the GSA board of directors and GSA executive committee, the alliance said.
Stevens’ retirement comes at the end of a transitional year for GSA, which underwent a rebranding initiative and name change from the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) with the introduction of the Best Seafood Practices (BSP) certification programme.
“It has been an honour to work with such professional, passionate, devoted, smart women and men here at the Global Seafood Alliance and throughout the industry. We have done good for society globally through our education and advocacy work as well as by providing third-party assurances through certification for farm-raised seafood and more recently for wild-caught seafood. The challenges that lie ahead will be best addressed by our associates at GSA, working collectively and collaboratively with others to find solutions,” Stevens said.
Perkins said that it had been an honour to work directly with Stevens for the past nine months.
“His leadership and passion for the seafood industry are evident in the way GSA carries itself as an organisation.
“We have a great team here at GSA, and I look forward to working with them to take the organization to even greater heights,” he said.
Perkins joined GSA after a six-year stint as regional director-Americas for the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
According to GSA, Stevens has played a critical role in the organisation’s growth since joining in 2007, particularly the development of its Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) third-party certification programme. He helped its recent involvement in wild-capture fisheries through the introduction of the BSP third-party certification programme that links responsible wild-capture fisheries to the Responsible Fishing Vessel Standard (RFVS)-certified vessels and Seafood Processing Plant Standard (SPS)-certified facilities.
Stevens’ seafood career dates back to 1971. He acted as senior VP of operations at Booth Fisheries Co. in New Hampshire, followed by president of salmon-farming company Ocean Products in Maine. He was president of Boston-based distributor Slade Gorton & Co for more than 17 years. He has also been active in the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), serving as its chairman in 2001 and co-founding its Future Leaders programme in 1998.
