|
STEVE BINSCHUS
Home Port Seafoods
|
 |
ERIC BLUMHAGEN
Jensen Maritime Consultants, Inc.
Eric started working as a junior naval architect at Jensen Maritime Consultants immediately after graduating from the University of Washington. His first projects were fishing vessel stability updates. He now leads the naval architecture department at Jensen and is proud to continue Jensen’s 50-year commitment to providing the best designs to the commercial fishing industry. Eric is an expert on fishing vessel safety and regulation and has led design teams for several new fishing vessels.
|
 |
RUSS CASTEEL
Haggen Grocery Co.
Russ began his grocery career in 1976 with Ralphs Grocery Co. of Southern California. He quickly advanced from meat cutter to corporate meat/seafood merchandiser with the responsibility of implementing the “first in market” European style seafood operation (open ice table displays). The concept was so successful that company leaders committed to a companywide roll out to 150 stores within the first year.
Russ relocated to Southeast Alaska in 1998 to join his father in a local business. This lead to relationship development with Alaska local fishermen and commercial processors, and he was able to assist in creating a distribution process for locally harvested salmon products.
In 2000, Russ relocated to Washington State to join Haggen Grocery Company as a seafood buyer/merchandiser. In this new position he was able to develop seafood marketing strategies that provided direct sourcing procurement opportunities and advanced training for all crew members. Additionally, he has developed relationships with and supported “local” fishermen and processors such as: Lummi Wild, Desire Fish Co., Penn Cove Shellfish, Transocean.
Most recently, Russ accepted the position of meat/seafood director for Haggen. His first objective as director was to apply the same procurement principles he had developed in prior assignments and implemented a localized beef program for which Haggen received national recognition.
|
|
IZETTA CHAMBERS
Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
Izetta Chambers is a fifth generation commercial salmon fisherman from Bristol Bay. She was raised in Naknek, a village of about 500 residents. She earned her bachelor's degree, and later her law degree, from the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Since August 2009, Izetta has served as the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program agent at the Bristol Bay Campus in Dillingham for the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
In 2006, Izetta founded Naknek Family Fisheries, a family-owned fish processing company, and she continues to manage the business during her summer months off from the university. Her family continues to engage in the commercial and subsistence salmon fishery, and she intends to impart this fishing heritage to her two children, Noah and Lovina. She assists direct market fishermen and start-up seafood companies on their permitting and licensing paperwork, as well as HACCP and sanitation plans. She also teaches workshops and classes on the National Environmental Policy Act to coastal residents across Alaska.
|
|
TOM DURKAN
Swinomish Seafoods
|
 |
MATAIO GILLIS
Ciaò Thyme
After finishing culinary school in 1993, Mataio Gillis spent a few years working under Caprial Pence and David Machado in Portland, Oregon. In 1996, he was chosen to be part of a team of culinarians for a professional development workshop in Italy--where he found his true passion awakened. Soon after his return, he met his true love, Jessica Gillis, and was pulled by his heart strings to Bellingham, WA. There he began a restaurant consulting business--helping restaurants with menu development, recipes, staffing, etc. Then, in 2000, Mataio and Jessica were married and spent 8 months living in Italy and working on organic farms. They came back in 2001 and opened Ciao Thyme catering. Jessica's degree in environmental education helped direct the sustainable philosophy that Ciao Thyme has been built around. With Mataio leading the kitchen, Ciao Thyme has grown into a well-respected catering company and has expanded to offer cooking classes, restaurant dining and a private event space, In the Kitchen. In the summer, you can often find Mataio with his head shrouded in smoke standing over a grill full of wild salmon!
|
 |
PETE GRANGER
Washington Sea Grant
Pete Granger is currently program leader - marine advisory services for the Washington Sea Grant Program, a professional staff position at the University of Washington based in Seattle. He has extensive background in the commercial seafood industry, having fished commercially in Puget Sound and Alaska and processed and marketed seafood products for several companies. He was sales director for Seafood Producers Cooperative in Bellingham 1989-1993. He has also headed three different fisheries trade associations. He served on the board of the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association from 1997-2001. He has a BS in oceanography and an MBA in international business from the University of Washington.
His current activities, in addition to administering the Marine Advisory Program with its twelve full-time professional staff, include providing tribal and non-tribal fishermen with alternative methods for direct marketing their commercial catch, organizing a “Fishermen’s Wharf” project in Bellingham where fishermen can sell their catch directly off their boats to the general public and assisting U.S. Dept. of Agriculture agencies with technical training for tribal and non-tribal fishermen under Trade Adjustment Assistance program. He has significant experience in issues relating to the clean-up of Puget Sound, including the newly-formed Puget Sound Partnership, which funds two of his field staff positions in Mason and Kitsap counties. He continues to fish commercially on Puget Sound as a reef-net fisherman at Lummi Island near Bellingham.
|
 |
RICK GREENQUIST
Highland Refrigeration
Rick began his long association with the fishing industry unloading king crab in Dutch Harbor, Alaska in the mid 70s. Soon he found himself in the engine room and on to an adventure that led him through all of the nuts, bolts, wires, and motors that form the mechanical foundation of the seafood industry; and introduced him to what would become a lifelong passion in mechanical refrigeration. It is a career that has brought him up through all of the ranks, paid for his college education, and has taken him to some remote corners across the Pacific Rim.
Rick has taught classes as an adjunct instructor through the Seattle Community College Marine Training Center, and through the Dutch Harbor Alaska chapter of Refrigerating Engineers and Technicians Association. His focus in the last two decades has been in mechanical design of refrigeration systems, electronic controls and energy efficiency.
Rick is currently employed by Highland Refrigeration in engineering and sales. He is involved in the full breadth of the industry from large construction projects, utility funded energy projects, government and military project in the Middle East; but most of his time is spent in old familiar territory - the fishing and processing vessels of the regional fishing industry.
"I get involved in some fascinating projects, huge construction projects, big machinery, new cutting edge technology; it is a wonderful adventure, and I love it all; but at heart, I've never gotten too far away from my beginnings. If all of the big stuff disappeared, I'd still be doing what I love: crawling around on a fishing boat with a tape measure and a flashlight, trying to find a way to make it all work out!"
|
|
BOB GUDMUNDSON
F/V Desire & Desire Fish Company
|
 |
RANDY HARTNELL
Vital Choice Wild Seafood & Organics
Before he and his wife founded Vital Choice Wild Seafood & Organics in 2001, Randy Hartnell spent 24 years as a commercial fisherman in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Today, Randy is president of Vital Choice, now the trusted source for fast home delivery of the world’s finest wild Alaskan seafood and organic fare. He guides Vital Choice in its mission to provide customers with sustainable seafood of the highest quality, while educating them about the impact of their food choices on the environment, their health, and the commercial fishing community. Randy is the public face of Vital Choice, fostering relationships with environmentally minded, health-conscious consumers and nutrition-oriented health and wellness advocates. He is a Washington state native and lives with his wife, Carla, in his home town of Bellingham. Randy also holds a degree in English literature from the University of California at Berkeley.
|
|
SCOTT KINLEY
Lummi Gateway Seafood Market
|
 |
MICHAEL McAULEY
Port of Bellingham
A local green builder and community-spirited person, Michael's commitment to public service led him to seek a seat on the Port of Bellingham commission. A lifelong resident of Washington State, he believes the port is well-positioned globally to become a leader in the Clean Tech Revolution by expanding the port’s regional role in economic development. Michael spends days representing the port on behalf of the public and working on his expanding green building firm. His off hours are taken up with his extended family, reading, and inventing.
|
 |
PETER PHILIPS
Philips Publishing Group
Peter is the president of Philips Publishing Group, publishers of trade journals for the maritime and transportation industries. In the years since Philips Publishing was founded by Peter’s father in 1983, the company has grown to become the largest maritime and transportation publishing house on the West Coast. Titles include Pacific Maritime Magazine, aimed at West Coast commercial vessel and terminal operators, FOGHORN, the official publication of the Passenger Vessel Association, Clipper Vacations Magazine, published for Seattle’s Clipper Navigation, Catalina Express Magazine, published for Catalina Express and Fishermen’s News, the oldest commercial fishing publication on the Pacific Coast. In addition to publishin5 trade journals, Philips Publishing also specializes in creative design services for the maritime and transportation industries, with clients across the country. Peter serves as president of the Seattle Marine Business Coalition, which represents the interests of marine industrial land users.
Peter is past president of the Port of Seattle Chapter of the Propeller Club, and past regional vice president, West Coast, of the International Propeller Club. Peter has a B.A. in history from Whitman College, and has been employed in the maritime publishing field since 1985.
|
|
REBECCA REUTTER
NOAA Fisheries
|
 |
PHIL RIISE
Seaview Boatyard
Phil owns Seaview Boatyard, which operates three full-service boatyards in Seattle and Bellingham. Seaview is proud to be celebrating its 38th anniversary this year. The company is recognized as an industry leader in environmental compliance including its recent Environmental Excellence Award from the Association of Washington Business and a Clean Boatyard designation from the Clean Boating Foundation. Seaview has enjoyed a long relationship with the Northwest and Alaska fishing fleets.
|
 |
MELINDA SWEET
F/V Desire & Desire Fish Company
Melinda owns Desire Fish Company with her husband, Bob Gudmundson. Together, and with their family crew, they process their gill net caught wild Alaskan salmon and market it in Whatcom County. Their focus together has been on creating the finest quality product and marketing it to their community, thereby strengthening the local food supply. Their vertically integrated business model serves to honor the salmon from sea to plate and places them as a responsible and trustworthy provider of this precious renewable resource.
|
 |
RILEY STARKS
The Willows Inn
Riley has lived in Bellingham since 1970. He graduated from WWU in political science in 1973 and has fished commercially since then. He has reef-netted and owned Nettles Farm since 1992, and The Willows Inn since 2001. His overriding goal through all of these endeavors has been to find, grow or catch the best food ingredients possible, and to get them to the general public.
|
 |
CAPRICE TESKE
Bellingham Farmers' Market
Caprice Teske has called Bellingham home since 2003 and started her relationship with the Bellingham Farmers' Market within a week of relocating to the Pacific Northwest. She has been involved with the Market as a volunteer, customer and board member. Since 2008, she has served as the director of this iconic, local Market. In this position, she considers her greatest impact to be helping farmers, producers and small businesses position themselves to compete in a diverse marketplace and works to create a greater customer base for the 150 businesses the Market supports. Teske is passionate about connecting customers directly to their food sources and educating community on the importance of maintaining healthy food systems. She also currently serves on the Whatcom Farm to School Advisory Board, helping to link school districts with local purveyors and helping create healthier meal options for students. In addition, she co-chairs Healthy Snacks Committee for Parkview Elementary, a pilot program started in 2010 to encourage children to try new foods and to educate them on the value of a healthy diet.
Prior to her work with the Bellingham Farmers' Market, Teske was a program director for the Whatcom Volunteer Center. Before relocating to Bellingham, she worked in a variety of positions overseas with the U.S. Antarctic Program. Her experience also includes corporate marketing, sales, public relations and event planning
|
 |
TIM UNGER
Bellingham Cold Storage
Tim started with Bellingham Cold Storage (BCS) in 1971 working summers in the Fish House. He started out in the trenches in the salmon freezing and glazing process and then moved to the salmon butchering lines. He became a full time employee in 1974, and became a forklift operator who was in charge of a frozen fish packing line and eventually was promoted to leadman of the boxing lines. In October of 1980, Tim began his current position as plant manager of the Squalicum Plant. He has been involved with processing and freezing of salmon, halibut and black cod, along with many other seafood species over his tenure at BCS. He is also very familiar with all facets of the freezing, storing and shipping of seafood products, including BCS’s own warehouse inventory system called WebOptics.
|
 |
KEVIN WEATHERHILL
The Markets LLC
Kevin is the president and CEO of The Markets LLC, a 17-store chain with stores throughout Washington State. He has over 30 years of supermarket industry experience, starting as a courtesy clerk while in high school. Over his career, he has held virtually every store level position and executive management positions.
Kevin was also CEO of Bornstein Seafoods for a brief period. Bornstein Seafoods is a Bellingham-based, family owned, primary seafood processor with west coast operations and procurement locations extending from Canada to northern California.
In addition to his current role as CEO of The Markets, Kevin and his wife, Kim, own and operate a Whatcom Falls market and Davinci’s Classic Subs in Bellingham, Washington. He graduated from Western Washington University in 1986 with a BA in finance, marketing, and decision sciences while working full time for several supermarket companies.
|
