TEAM
The team behind the Dutch Yellowtail
The founders of The Kingfish Company, Ohad Maiman, former VP of the Merhav Group, Kees Kloet of Silt Farm, and Hans den Bieman, Director of Sealand and former CEO of Marine Harvest, bring a unique and complimentary combination of hands-on Yellowtail farming, senior management in the Aquaculture field, and a diverse project development background.
Founding partners
Ohad Maiman
CEO
In his former position as VP Business Development at the Merhav Group, Mr. Maiman has had the opportunity to evaluate, develop, and manage multiple operations in the Oil & Gas, Petrochemical, Water treatment and Agricultural industries, and that was where he first encountered the land based aquaculture sector. Impressed by the potential of the nascent field, Mr. Maiman left his former position and dedicated himself to study the opportunity in depth, culminating in the founding and launch of Kingfish Zeeland in 2015. Graduated from Columbia University in 2003.
Kees Kloet
COO
Mr. Kloet is a pioneer in the Land Based field and the first to build and operate a Yellowtail Kingfish RAS farm(Silt BV). He was involved in the start-up of approximately 30 RAS fish farms worldwide, and responsible for the training of staff and for the first production of a range of different species. In 1993, he also co-founded and served as the commercial director at Coppens International BV. Mr. Kloet holds a Masters in Aquaculture (Msc) from Wageningen University.
Partner & Chairman of the Board
Hans den Bieman
Hans den Bieman is currently a shareholder and director of Sealand- the largest smolt producer in Chile. Amongst various top management positions in the field, Mr. Den Bieman served as COO of Nutreco Aquaculture (2000 to 2005) and as CEO of Netherlands-based Marine Harvest, the world’s largest fish-farming company (2005-2007). Mr. Den Bieman holds a Masters in Aquaculture (Msc) from Wageningen University.
Strategic partners
Billund Aquaculture
Technology & Engineering
With a large and well documented reference list and more than 27 years of experience in design, installations, operation and service of intensive re-circulation fish farms, Billund has consistently delivered successful systems. Billund has been chosen by management as the lead contractor for the design, build and commissioning of the Kingfish Zeeland farm.
Wageningen University
Lab and R&D
As one of the leading Marine and Aquaculture Universities in Europe, WU’s extensive research into fish nutrition, livestock welfare and recirculation system water treatment supports the management of Kingfish Zeeland in ensuring optimal ongoing growth conditions and testing potentially better feed and hatchery solutions.
Building Contractor
Van der Straaten
With over 110 years of operations, VdS is one of the most experienced contractors in southwest Netherlands and Belgian Flanders, specialising in the high performance, marine water resistant concrete and steel works (scaffolding, fenders, mooring devices, locks, bridges, embankments, pumping stations, water treatment plants, settling tanks, etc.) VCA ** 2008 / 5.1 and ISO 9001: 2008 certified.
Advisors
Andy Mosmans
Brand & Marketing
Founder of Andy Mosmans & Company, the Institute for Branding and Business Development, IBBD, and partner at ARA - Creative Agency, part of TBWA\Worldwide. Mr. Mosmans studied Business Economics at the Erasmus University and worked in various international marketing and management positions at Philips Electronics, FHV BBDO and BBDO Netherlands - a part of BBDO Worldwide. Furthermore, Andy is author of the books Branding NL and Startup Branding, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Amstelland Hospital and a member of the Advisory Board of Rotterdam Partners and Get in the Ring & Unknown Group.
Hans Boon
Nutrition & Feed Formulation
Mr. Boon is an aqua feed and nutrition expert with 30 years of experience in the sector. A graduate of Wageningen University with a specialization in fish nutrition, Hans worked for 15 years at Provimi where he eventually managed the Aquafeed division. Mr. Boon has worked on feed formulation for Yellowtail with Kingfish Zeeland's founding partner Kees Kloet during his early pilot phase, and is assisting in developing custom formulations for Kingfish Zeeland.
Kingfish Zeeland
Christo du Plessis
CFO
Having trained as a Chartered Accountant, Mr. du Plessis gained experience in the agricultural industry as CFO at fast-growing companies and in specialist roles. Mr. du Plessis then spent 12 years at Abagold Limited, the largest land-based aquaculture operation in Southern Africa, first as CFO and then CEO. He joined Kingfish Zeeland in January 2019 as Head of Sales and Operations, then acted as the General Manager, and now serves as the CFO.
Bram Rohaan
Production Manager
Fish play a central role in Mr. Rohaan's life; it started with angling, developed into keeping ornamental carp and eventually led to a career in the production of consumption fish in RAS. Bram earned an aquaculture degree from Wageningen University, and prior to joining Kingfish Zeeland worked for 3 years as the production manager for Atlantic Sapphire’s Langsand Laks (world’s first commercial land based grow-out for Atlantic salmon, based in Denmark).
Sander Ruizeveld de Winter
Hatchery Manager
As the former R&D Manager of Zeeuwse Tong, Mr. Ruizeveld has gained hands-on expertise in the hatchery management and full life cycle of Lobsters, Oysters and Sole amongst other marine seafood species. Sander is a graduate of Wageningen University and is leading the team responsible for Kingfish Zeeland's Parent Stock Program and ongoing hatchery operations.
Quality Assurance Manager
Cees-Jan Bastiaansen
Mr. Bastiaansen holds a Master’s degree in Aquaculture (MSc) from Wageningen University, and during his Master thesis he focused on waste water treatment in RAS, by integrating and analysing various denitrification techniques. Prior to joining Kingfish Zeeland Mr. Bastiaansen has gained experience with various aquaculture species: tilapia (Indonesia), trout (The Netherlands) and Atlantic salmon (Canada). Cees-Jan leads Kingfish Zeeland's certification process and quality control measures.
Sune Moeller
Head of Construction
Mr. Moeller have throughout his whole career worked on large capital investment projects within different industries and in different capacities. He has spent four years with Billund Aquaculture, prior to starting with Kingfish Zeeland, where he did engineering and project management for large smolt and grow-out salmon farms. These fish farmers were built by Customers such as SalMar and Atlantic Sapphire in both Europe and North America. Mr. Moeller has brought in thorough experience with innovative solutions along with an in-depth technical understanding of RAS systems from his time at Billund Aquaculture. This has enabled a continued development and optimization of the existing farming concept and processes.
Ricardo de Hoog
HR Manager
Mr. De Hoog began his active career at the submarine service and the Military Intelligence Service of the Royal Dutch Navy to move into the business world 20 years later. There he explored the various sectors and served as CEO of a small company specialised in lift and injection techniques in the construction sector and later operational manager within the IT sector. After 10 years Ricardo decided to start his own practice for Coaching and Screening to finally join the Kingfish Zeeland team in 2018. Initially as Manager Operations and now as HR manager and coordinator new construction.
Patrick Voskuilen
Assistant-Production manager
An interest in animals is the basis for Mr. Voskuilen. As a Wageningen University graduate (MSc), Mr. Voskuilen has a background in animal production. In his study he focussed on metabolism and feeding of fish. During both his study and the past years at Kingfish Zeeland, Mr. Voskuilen has developed knowledge towards production of fish.
Przemysław Krajewski
Production Shift Manager
After the graduation of his master degree in aquaculture Mr. Krajewski started his professional career in the first RAS farm in Europe, producing Yellowtail Kingfish (seriola lalandi). After this experience Mr. Krajewski moved on to growing several different species of algae for a few years in open systems and specially made fotobiorectors. At this moment he has returned to the first commercial sized landbased Yellowtail Kingfish farm, where he takes care for the fish health and their optimal growth.
Operations Manager
Jaqueline Naluyange
Mrs. Naluyange joined Kingfish Zeeland as Operations Manager in July 2019 and is leading the Processing & Packaging team. Before joining Kingfish Zeeland, Mrs. Naluyange worked within the aquaculture and food industry, recently as QEHS & Logistics Manager for Billund Aquaculture USA, including project management functions in Danish and British based companies.
Mrs. Naluyange was born in Uganda but raised in Denmark, and she holds a Master’s in Change Management and a Bachelor of Engineering in Global Management and Manufacturing from the University of Southern Denmark (SDU).
Sales
Janneke van der Linde
Sales, Marketing and PR
Whichever way you look at it: a switch from the notarial profession to fish is quite unusual. Not hindered by any knowledge of fish in general, or Dutch Yellowtail in particular, Mrs. van der Linde-Kikkert has been involved with Kingfish Zeeland from the very beginning and has witnessed and participated in all steps the company has taken to date, while hopefully many more to follow. She started as an office manager, but soon grew into sales and marketing: another switch, and an exciting one too. It offers the opportunity to satisfy a relentless hunger and curiosity for new, for her, unknown areas.
Sales/Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Petra Ruiter
Ms. Ruiter has been working for Kingfish Zeeland B.V. since January 2018. She started as an office manager and sales support. In her current position, she is responsible for all aspects of sales, logistics and supply chain management. Ms. Ruiter is educated in hotel management, business communication, sales and PR. Ms. Ruiter has previously held positions as account manager purchasing & sales, project coördinator logistics in heavy cargo shipping. In recent years she has also had 2 companies under her own management. Her switch to fish farming is a surprising but very good choice.
Contact us
A Oost-Zeedijk 13
4485 PM Kats, the Netherlands
Investors
T +31 (0) 113 74 54 61
Press/Media