Seattle, Washington-headquartered Trident Seafoods, North America’s largest vertically integrated seafood harvesting and processing company wth operations in six countries and customers in over 50 nations, has appointed Mike Quinn as its chief operating officer. Charged with leading operational strategy and execution, he will report directly to CEO Joe Bundrant.
The privately held company, which employs approximately 9,000 people worldwide and partners with over 5,400 independent fishermen and crew members, also announced additional leadership changes, naming Jeff Welbourn as president of Trident USA, and Kenji Nasu as president of Trident Alaska, effective October 1.
“The addition of Mike as our chief operating officer, and the appointment of Jeff and Kenji to new leadership roles within the company are the next steps in our long-term vision to modernize operations and refocus global commercial strategy,” said Bundrant. “These are the right leaders and the right changes that will position us for future growth, enabling the continuation of our mission of responsibly sharing wild Alaska seafood with the world.”
Quinn is no stranger to Trident or the commercial seafood industry, having served on the company’s board of directors for the past five years. Before being named Trident’s COO, he spent 25 years at Microsoft Corporation, holding leadership roles across several functions, including sales, global manufacturing and supply chain operations, strategic planning and finance.
“Mike has a wealth of experience leading complex global businesses,” Bundrant said. “Creating this new position and adding a proven leader like Mike is the next step in Trident’s evolution to a customer-centric, business unit-led strategy that will return value to all stakeholders. More importantly, as shown from his work on Trident’s board of directors, he is deeply committed to this company, our people, and the Alaska seafood industry.”
Most recently, Quinn served as Microsoft’s vice president of sales— global account management, responsible for developing a multi-year global sales, marketing, and product roadmap strategy. Before Microsoft, he held multiple financial and leadership positions at various biotechnology and healthcare companies in Washington, California and Texas. His international experience includes assignments in Dublin, Ireland, and Shenzhen, China.
“I am excited to step into this new role at Trident Seafoods,” said Quinn. “The company has been an industry leader for over 50 years, and despite the unprecedented challenges in the seafood sector, I see tremendous opportunities ahead.
Newly appointed President Jeff Welbourn has over 17 years with Trident. He has extensive commercial and operations experience, including establishment of the company’s China business channels, heading global species management, and leading Alaska operations through a significant transformation.
Kenji Nasu has been with Trident for over 20 years, most recently as senior vice president – global species. He came on board in 2004 when the company acquired Norquest Seafood. Prior to Norquest, he managed two Alaska-based salmon processing plants for a Japanese seafood company.
Omar Sadeque, who joined Trident in April of 2023, will continue leading the company’s international business unit.
