Mowi Chairman to step down

Ole-Eirik Lerøy, Mowi’s long-serving Chairman, has announced he is stepping down from the board of the salmon farming giant.

He has been an integral part of the business for more than 15 years. It was also announced yesterday that his successor will be shipping executive Ørjan Svanevik.

Ole-Eirik Lerøy (pictured) joined the company in 2009 when it was known as Marine Harvest. At that time it was a relatively moderate player in the salmon business.

Over the last 15 years, the business now known as Mowi has developed into the world’s largest producer of Atlantic Salmon with operations in Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Faroes, Iceland, Canada and Chile. It had a turnover of €5.5 billion (£4.6bn) last year.

The company today employs almost 12,000 people in dozens of countries – and not just those producing salmon.

Lerøy said: “It has been an honour to serve Mowi during the era of becoming the world’s largest supplier of farm raised salmon.”

John Fredriksen, ship owning giant and Mowi’s largest shareholder, said: “Ole-Eirik is a true industry veteran and has been instrumental into developing the strong Mowi organisation.

“We highly appreciate his contributions over the past 15 years, which will serve as a strong platform for the future value creation.”

Ørjan Svanevik (photo: Arendals Fossekompani)

His successor, Ørjan Svanevik, is currently Investment Director of Fredriksen’s shipping company Seatankers. He has broad operational experience with a number of previous businesses, including serving as CEO of Arendals Fossekompani, Head of M&A at Aker and Chief Operating Officer of Kværner, in addition to holding chair and board positions in listed companies including Mowi, Volue, Seadrill and Archer. Svanevik is a board member of, among others, Axactor, Western Bulk and Paratus Energy.

He holds an MSc in Economics and Business Administration (Siviløkonom) from the Norwegian Business School (BI), an MBA from Thunderbird and an AMP from Harvard.