Randy Rhodes reflects on 40 years in the US catfish industry

In early November, Randy Rhodes left Harvest Select Catfish and Seafood, after serving as president of the Tuscaloosa, Alabama U.S.A.-based firm for more than 15 years. Prior to moving to Harvest Select Catfish & Seafood, he worked at Southern Pride Catfish. He can be reached at (334) 507-8153 or at [email protected].

SeafoodSource: What were the reasons for your departure from Harvest Select?

Rhodes: It had been planned for me to step aside and pass the leadership torch to Chris Barnett. That got accelerated a little bit because it just felt like now was the right timing. I have a knee surgery scheduled next week and I’m going to have to recuperate. So this will take me away and give me time to reflect. It has certainly been an amazing ride in the catfish industry.

SeafoodSource: What are your thoughts about your tenure at Harvest Select?

Rhodes: I’ve been a part of the catfish industry since I was 23, so 40 years. I had a wonderful start to my career at Farm Fresh Catfish, then with the startup Southern Pride Catfish and American Pride. And then I came to over Harvest Select and I think we built a great team and built the brand and brought it up to where we were very proud of it now. I’m still very proud of it.

SeafoodSource: Do you have a next move planned?

Rhodes: We’ll see what happens. I'm absolutely healthy, other than a bad knee. I still have a few more years I want to be a participant in something, and I've got a number of ideas. I'm willing to listen to what people might come up with. I enjoy traveling a lot and I’ve got a lot of connections that can help me contribute to ... 

Photo by Chris Chase/SeafoodSource