By Paul Lansbergen
President, Fisheries Council of Canada
This year, the Fisheries Council of Canada (FCC) launched a new sector-specific career development program.
The huge success of a similar program in the U.S. gave us confidence that Future Leaders Canada would be valued by the sector. Our expectations for the first year were modest to build momentum for future years. The response and reactions from the sector during the application phase were encouraging.
In the end, we have seven very strong Future Leaders in our inaugural class.
The inaugural class swung into Chicago on July 8 for the second session.
The session began with a culinary teambuilding networking event at The Chopping Block. The Tuesday itinerary included a visit to the Shedd Aquarium to learn about their sustainability and partnership programs.
Fortune Fish & Gourmet gave us a tour of their main facility and its chef cooked up a wonderful fish lunch. US Foods showed us its test kitchen and talked about its brands and relationships with suppliers.
The NPD Group gave us an impressive presentation of its market databases and analysis.
On Wednesday, we met with the seafood procurement manager for Meijer and it was very interesting how it emphasizes quality and freshness over diversity of product. Preferred Freezer Services gave us a tour of a distribution warehouse which featured cutting-edge design and highly efficient operations, translating into better service for customers.
Later on, we met with FoodMinds to learn about some of the market research and branding initiatives it has done for fish and seafood.
The session ended with a visit to Kendall College to learn about their culinary programs.
Visit https://bit.ly/32QniOz to see a video collage of photos from the session.
Here are some quotes from a few of the participants.
“Being quite new to the sector, this program is opening my eyes to so many elements along the supply chain,” said Neil Kigutaq, Baffin Fisheries Coalition. He continued, “I am compiling plenty of ideas on how we can advance our northern fisheries and better serve our markets.”
“I know that sustainability is critical for seafood companies. It was valuable to hear firsthand from large U.S. companies outside our current customer base what sustainability means to them,” said Brent McNamara, Newfound Resources. “I also relished the market research analysis on what drives consumer behaviour.”
“My role in Clearwater is in Human Resources. This program has been great to gain a better appreciation and understanding of the seafood industry as a whole,” said Denise Avery, Clearwater Seafoods, “I am optimistic this program will be a key part of our talent development program going forward.”
The last session will be in St. Andrews, N.B., in August where they will learn more about aquaculture, lobster and more.
