Chilean Salmon Council names Loreto Seguel as new executive director

The Chilean Salmon Council has named Loreto Seguel its new executive director, beginning 1 December.

Seguel’s hiring follows the council’s announcement at the beginning of November that its current director, Joanna Davidovich, would step down by month’s end and join the council's board as an independent member. Davidovich was appointed the council's executive director in 2020 upon the creation of the council, which represents AquaChile, Australis, Cermaq, Mowi, and Salmones Aysén – together accounting for over half of total Chilean salmon production.

Seguel is a civil engineer with a master’s degree in engineering sciences and more than 20 years of work experience in both the public and private sectors. Until March 2022, she was president of SEP, the Chilean government’s system for the control of public companies. Prior to that, she had been head of the National Women's Service (Sernam) and undersecretary of the Chile’s Social Development Ministry. Seguel has served on the boards of public and private companies and has been a founding partner of several private business ventures.

The Salmon Council is a trade organization whose objective is to unite the efforts of its associated companies to promote the sustainable development of Chile’s salmon farming industry, which is currently the country’s second largest export sector and represents a hub of development and employment generation where it operates in the southern part of Chile.

Salmon and trout exports from Chile reached USD 4.77 billion (EUR 4.61 billion) in value during the first three quarters of the year, surging 31 percent year-over-year, according to the Chilean Salmon Council’s quarterly report on salmon exports. For the third quarter alone, Chile’s exports of salmon and trout hit USD 1.54 billion (EUR 1.49 billion), up 31 percent compared to the same quarter of 2021.

Photo courtesy of Loreto Seguel