Meet our co-founders, Tim and Dale
CleanFish Team
CleanFish Advisory Board
MEET OUR CO-FOUNDERS: TIM & DALE
Tim and Dale are unlikely co-conspirators who came together on a bet. The bet was that chefs, distributors and consumers would welcome the opportunity and vote with their forks for premium products that taste great from artisan fisheries doing things right. Dale knew that quality products taste better. Tim knew that artisan stewardship practices mean superior seafood quality. Dale knows the seafood business. Tim’s experience as an eco-strategist with soulful brands showed him that consumer values were not being adequately heard in the market.
They were both right!
Tim O’Shea - Chairman & Co-Founder
Tim O’Shea, Chairman & CEO, is the co-founder of CleanFish a company that represents the culmination of a life long dream. He saw his first aquaculture operation in 1974. That operation was designed as a means of feeding people in a responsible manner with quality protein as part of other energy and food systems. It left an unforgettable impression.
Much of Tim’s personal and professional life has focused on how best to utilize market forces to achieve a better world. CleanFish is the result of decades of hard work, countless hours of study and on-going interactions with some of the brightest minds in business, politics, education, research, spirituality and the sustainable and environmental movements.
In January, 2004 the media reported a number of stories about an explosive crisis in the way salmon were being farmed and the idea for CleanFish was born.
Recognizing the inevitability of aquaculture as an essential part in revitalizing the habitats of wild species, Tim became fearful of large-scale industrial practices that would continue to damage marine environments, threaten with extinction vital fish stocks, and produce fish of dubious quality.
He knew that an answer to the growing seafood crisis was to create a commercial venture strong enough to successfully champion responsible artisan producers who were committed to sustainable practices while, at the same time, producing seafood of the highest quality.
As Tim likes to say, “CleanFish is a company, an aspiration and a movement.” Under Tim’s guidance, CleanFish is doing its part to help our planet and excite your palate by bringing to the market, and to your table “fish you can trust.™”
Dale Sims - Vice-President & Co-Founder
Dale Sims, vice-president and co-founder of CleanFish, has been in the seafood business for almost thirty years. His sterling resume includes being a major seafood retailer, a successful product developer, and a well regarded broker for fin fish internationally.
During his years in the seafood business, he became increasingly concerned about the environmental impacts of the industry and that large-scale industrial approaches to harvesting seafood were rapidly depleting our oceans. He began to seek out a better way and took a serious interest in how sustainable seafood practices might improve the industry and save our oceans.
While attending a presentation held by a major seafood importer, Dale was listening at the presentation while CleanFish Co-Founder Tim o’Shea was making a case for a new sustainable seafood company that would connect health, environment and sustainable practices to gain a market premium. Dale immediately knew the market opportunity was far from theoretical, knew that this was the kind of commercial effort that could make a difference, and approached Tim. Some intense conversations soon followed and within a few months, CleanFish was born.
Meet the CleanFish Team
With several decades of combined experience in the seafood and food
service industries, CleanFish is rich with expertise. A strong passion
for the health of our planet and the sustainability of our industry links
us together in our work towards ending the seafood crisis with marketplace
solutions.
Roy Camblin - Chief Executive Officer
Tim has known Roy for almost twenty years and brought him on-board in April 2009 to provide the leadership necessary to take CleanFish to the next stage in accomplishing our important mission. Roy is a seasoned senior executive with broad international experience in both business operations and the full range of advanced technologies. He has been an executive sponsor and agent for change in the banking, investment, insurance, real-estate, and high tech industries for companies like Citibank, Wells Fargo Bank, Charles Schwab & Co, and Oracle Corporation, leading critical clean-up, consolidation, globalization, and major growth efforts in numerous “C” level executive roles. Roy has also been the CEO of a publicly traded high-tech company, successfully leading them through hyper growth, a secondary public round of funding, and several successful M&A transactions. High energy and high acumen are his hallmarks; he shares Tim and Dale’s passion and vision for what needs to change in the seafood industry to preserve the ecology and deliver the best seafood available. Roy’s brand of leadership involves clarifying goals and enabling both individuals, organizations, and communities to reach those goals…through rigorous objective setting, education, training, leadership development, and meaningful performance measurement. Accolades have included being named “Visionary of the Year” at Computer World’s Top 100 event in 1992. This appointment by the Founders of CleanFish gives Roy the opportunity to bring his years of seasoned experience to the task of growing a dynamic set of business platforms that leverage commercial market forces for the benefit of better producers making up the CleanFish Alliance, a focused network providing fish you can trust.
Hugh Robertson - Chief Financial Officer
Hugh grew up on Puget Sound in Washington State when most of the shoreline was pristine and seafood was plentiful and clean. He joined the CleanFish movement out of a desire to reverse mankind’s destruction of the oceans since his youth. He strongly believes that the only hope the oceans have is for someone to educate producers and consumers alike, and build markets for sustainable fish between them. This is the CleanFish mission.
Hugh brings a strong finance, strategy, and banking background to CleanFish. His career began as a management consultant at Arthur Andersen followed by ten years as Vice President of Commercial Banking at First Interstate Bank. He has also held roles as VP & Strategic Planning Manager for First Federal S&L and Director of Strategic Alliances for BankServ, Inc. More recently Hugh held CFO roles at French-American International School, Escuela Bilingue Internacional, and Maison Nouveau, Inc. Hugh has an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Puget Sound, a M.S. in Industrial Administration from the Krannert Graduate School of Management at Purdue University and a M.A. in International Studies from the Jackson School at the University of Washington.
Bill Bradford - National Sales Manager
Bill Bradford is harnessing his sales skills to ensure that Boston has CleanFish.
With ten years in the Boston seafood business, he has a strong understanding
of this market’s landscape and the great opportunity it holds for
CleanFish to fulfill its mission. Bill’s path to us started with a
love of food, which he cultivated in the restaurant world as a chef and
then as a restaurant buyer. He went on to purchase seafood for the
fine restaurant and hotel sectors then became sales and procurement officer
for a major fresh seafood distributor specializing in local fish.
For the past five years Bill has focused on sustainable wild fisheries,
specifically wild salmon spanning San Francisco to the Yukon.
Sasha Dorman - Accounting and Operations
Sasha’s eleven years of operations and accounting experience has prepared
her well for managing the growing and innovative operations of CleanFish.
Her interest in sustainability began at the age of 12 when she founded her
middle school’s first green team, The Planet Patrol. She went
on to lead nature trail tours for a local youth education program during
her high school years before entering the business world. CleanFish is proud
to announce that we’ve converted Sasha into a seafood lover.
Polly Legendre - Culinary Director
Polly decided to become a chef at the age of 12 and her passion for good
food hasn’t wavered since. After an impressive culinary career in
some of the world’s best kitchens, she has decided to change the way
restaurants source their seafood by joining CleanFish. Polly has been
cooking professionally for over 20 years both in the United States and in
Europe. In the nine years she spent in France, she became the first American
to graduate from the Ecole Supérieure de Cuisine Française,
and was one of the first women to work in some of the world famous restaurants
in Paris. After cooking at Michelin starred restaurants such as la
Tour d’Argent, Henri Faugeron and the Hotel Crillon, she returned
to her native Northern California where she founded La Gourmande, a Private
Chef Service. A seasoned fly fisher and gardener, Polly brings a wide breadth
of culinary knowledge and experience to CleanFish.
Karim Machi - Poissonnier and Evangelist
With his authentic French charm and a cooler full of fresh seafood samples,
our evangelist Karim is building a community of devoted CleanFish Alliance
chefs and other true believers. His enlightened perspective and 18
years as a trusted fishmonger for Yum Yum Fish in San Francisco are a combination
in perfect alignment with our mission. What’s more, Karim regularly
spoils the San Francisco office with spontaneous gourmet lunches featuring
fish we can trust.
Sharon O’Malley - Assistant Manager of Marketing Communications
CleanFish Marketing is sustained by Sharon’s astute research skills,
aesthetic and sincere commitment to our work. From a young age, she
was taught the importance of food, and sharing meals with ingredients from
her mom’s garden was central to her family life. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in Art History and minor in business administration, Sharon moved to
Chicago where she held a marketing internship at the Museum of
Contemporary Art. She is happy to have landed in a place where her
obsession with good food and a healthy planet is nourished every day.
Michael Romine - Sales Account Executive, Southern California
Michael is our Los Angeles market expert, educating its distributor community
about the quality seafood our CleanFish Alliance producers have to offer.
A native Californian who’s drawn to the ocean, he is a surfer, a swimmer,
and a hobby fisherman. Before joining us, Michael traveled to Central America
and Canada to develop new sources for fresh product and then market them
to sales staff and customers. After buying and selling large quantities
of seafood internationally with a major industry player, he was ready to
make a positive impact through his work. We are happy he chose CleanFish.
Asif Suria - IT Director
Asif joined CleanFish to establish our IT infrastructure, solve all challenges
technical, and develop an Enterprise Resource Planning system to make our
business hum. With graduate work in Software Engineering, a degree
in Civil Engineering, and seven years of experience in the IT industry,
Asif is well equipped to support the growth of CleanFish.
In his prior work with the University of Oregon, he built an Enterprise
Resource Planning system called GradWeb from the ground up. GradWeb helped
the Graduate School go virtually paperless and is now used by thousands
of students, faculty and staff. Asif has consulted to the natural food industry
and the financial industry, and is an avid financial blogger whose work
appears on Yahoo Finance, Google Finance and SeekingAlpha.
Kendrick Wu - Sales Account Manager, Northern California
Another recovering seafood commodity broker, Kendrick joined CleanFish because
he believed there was a better way to do business in the seafood industry.
In his new take on the Sales Manager role, Kendrick makes the connection
between the seafood he sells and the sustainable practices behind them through
customer education. With seven years of experience focused on shrimp
sales with a major seafood producer and importer, he is also our resident
shrimp expert. There’s no end to his knowledge of the ins and outs
of this intricate and ever-controversial industry, making Kendrick great
conversation at coffee breaks.
CleanFish Advisory Board
CleanFish is blessed to have the active support, guidance, and commitment of a distinguished group of supporters:
Gil Friend: Founder & CEO, Natural Logic, Inc.; national consultancy on sustainable business standards and strategy implementation
Rod Fujita: Director, Environmental Defense, Oceans Project, Pacific Division.
Rob Hurlbut: CEO, Brand New Brands Daily Wellness Platform
Tessa Hill: Director, Kids for Saving Earth; Chair, Children’s Health and Environment Coalition
John O’Neil: Founder, Center for Leadership Renewal; Board, A.M. Todd & Co.
Mike McConnell: Founder, The Husbandry Institute, former Vice Chair, Niman Ranch, Best Tasting Meat You Can Buy
Greg Steltenpohl: Co-Founder, Adina, World Beat Beverages; Former Founding CEO, Odwalla Juices
John Todd: Founder, New Alchemy Institute & Ocean Arks International
Alice Waters: Owner/Chef, Author, Chez Panisse Restaurant. Co-Founder, Slow Food International; Edible Schoolyard; Chez Panisse Foundation
Geri Hokulani Herbert: Advisor in Health, Institutional, and Fund Development to CleanFish
Linda Stone: Advisor in National Environmental Concerns, Technology Solutions, and Growth Strategies to CleanFish