Richard Stavis stepping down from Stavis Seafoods to form consultancy

Stavis Seafoods Chief Sustainability Officer Richard Stavis has announced that he will be moving on from the Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based company by January 2021.

In a LinkedIn post detailing his decision, Stavis said he planned to leave the firm in the new year to “help others to achieve their growth and sustainability goals” in a consultancy capacity. Following his departure, Stavis will be “available electronically worldwide,” he said, and will “travel for select projects.”

Before moving into the role of CSO in 2018 following the company’s acquisition by Spain’s Grupo Profand, Stavis served as CEO for the North American seafood distributor for more than 20 years. During his tenure at the helm of the company, Stavis Seafoods grew into an over USD 200 million (EUR 169 million) firm from USD 40 million (EUR 33.9 million), expanding in scope and scale, Stavis said.  

“I traded the role of ‘big boss’ at a company that could influence change to an influencer as Stavis’ CSO at Grupo Profand,” he said. “How did we do? Grupo Profand has made great strides forward in sustainability. We tracked the labor on our vessels, joined any new FIPs, [have] become a strategic partner of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, become [Marine Stewardship Council]-certified at most locations and signed onto advocacy letters at the [regional fishery management organization] level. Stavis has signed onto GDST 1.0, and added [Aquaculture Stewardship Council]-chain of custody. We were named on of SeafoodSource’s Top 25 sustainable seafood companies in North America. Not bad!”

Stavis will operate as a consultant out of his new home in Sweden, where he and his wife are raising their four-year-old daughter, he said. 

Photo courtesy of Stavis Seafoods