Thai Union’s Darian McBain receives Edie Sustainability Leader of the Year award

Darian McBain, Thai Union’s global director for sustainable development, was honored for her work on seafood sustainability at the 2018 Edie Sustainability Leaders Awards.

McBain, who was a main driver behind the establishment and implementation of Thai Union’s SeaChange sustainability strategy, was named Edie’s Sustainability Leader of the Year at the awards, which took place 24 January in London, England.

A sustainability information website and exhibition group, the Edie awards are designed to “celebrate sustainability excellence and innovation, from the largest multi-national businesses to the smallest micro-organizations.”

“Darian is everything you would want in a sustainability leader,” the judges said. “She has worked tirelessly right across the business, socially and environmentally, and has had a huge, tangible impact. And this isn’t just incremental change; Darian has ignited a global shift in thinking around sustainability within the seafood sector.”

McBain won in a category that included representatives from Proctor and Gamble, The Co-op, Herbert Smith Freehills and more. The judges also cited McBain’s role in launching Thai Union’s new tuna strategy, which included a commitment to sourcing 100 percent of branded tuna from fisheries that are Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified or engaged in Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs), as a factor in her winning the award.

“The award is personally an honor and a recognition of a truly remarkable year for Thai Union, full of tremendous achievements in sustainability which are the result of the hard work of a lot of people,” McBain said. “Looking ahead, we will continue working to make progress and maintain focus on leveraging our leadership position and ability to collaborate to address the sustainability challenges confronting the global seafood industry.”

Thai Union is one of the world’s largest seafood companies, with annual sales exceeding THB 125 billion (USD 4 billion, EUR 3.2  billion) and a global workforce of more than 49,000 employees. The company’s global brand portfolio includes Chicken of the Sea, John West, Petit Navire, Parmentier, Mareblu, King Oscar, and Rügen Fisch and Thai-leading brands SEALECT, Fisho, Qfresh, Monori, Bellotta and Marvo.

Thai Union has received several other forms of recognition for its sustainability efforts in the past few months. On 9 November, the company received the Stock Exchange of Thailand’s 2017 Outstanding’ Sustainability Award and was listed in the SET’s 2017 Thailand Sustainability Investment Index. Thai Union was named a winner of the Asia Corporate Excellence and Sustainability Award for Top Corporate Social Responsibility Advocates on 30 October in Singapore. It was also “highly commended” for Sustainability Report of the Year and Sustainability Leader of the Year (Darian McBain) at the Ethical Corporation’s Eighth Annual Responsible Business Awards on 16 October in London. The company has also been nominated in five categories at the upcoming Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards, which will be announced in Singapore on 6 February. Additionally, in September, Thai Union was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Emerging Markets for the fourth straight year.