Bumble Bee: Doug Hines Moves From Operational Role To Board Directorff

Douglas Hines, chief operating officer and executive vice president of the US giant Bumble Bee Foods is moving from his top operational role to board director.

Hines, veteran in the tuna business, has been active in the industry for 34 years. His executive position in the company will be succeeded by Jan Tharp, who had formerly worked at StarKist. Tharp joined the Bumble Bee group in May 2010 as Senior Vice President of Operations. She will assume Hines former responsibilities as of September 1st.

In a statement sent to suppliers, Bumble Bee’s CEO Chris Lischewski  worte:

“In his new role, Doug will be a personal advisor to me, will continue to represent Bumble Bee in a number of our global supply chain and growth initiatives and will be involved in our M&A activities. Furthermore, in his role on the board, he will continue to provide input into the strategic direction of the company,” he said.

“I sincerely appreciate the commitment he has always provided and the fact that I have always been able to talk him into staying a few more years. This move will allow him to scale back his level of engagement and allow more time for his personal life, as well as other interests,” he said.

According to Lischewski, in 1997, when Bumble Bee acquired the Orleans business, where Hines was  a part owner, Hines agreed to remain on board for three years to complete the transition and work with the organization to develop and integrate new business opportunities.

“However, in 1999, when I joined Bumble Bee, I asked him to continue on and work with me and the Bumble Bee team to grow the business into a seafood powerhouse with the objective to reach one billion dollars in revenues. These goals have been met and we have emerged as the largest branded seafood company in North America and one of the ten largest seafood companies in the world.”

“Doug utilized experience, knowledge, strategic vision and an entrepreneurial spirit to reshape Bumble Bee’s entire supply chain and thereby enable the company to achieve the position as the industry’s low cost operation,” said Lischewski.