Hometown: Red Harbour, NL

Current: Cooke Seafood USA and Wanchese Fish Company, with responsibilities for Cooke’s fishing operations in Argentina and Uruguay

Employer: Cooke Aquaculture Inc.

Program: Diploma in Food Technology (Marine Products)

Graduation Year: 1982

While he lives in the United States, Ross Butler remains very connected to Newfoundland, his home, and to the Marine Institute, his alma mater. He is connected as a member of the Board of Directors of Newfound Resources (Offshore Northern Shrimp Company) based in Newfoundland, through his active involvement with the MI Industry Advisory Committee, and also by participating through an advisory role on Cooke’s Newfoundland based aquaculture operations. When asked he provided these insights for his alumni spotlight:

"In many ways, my heritage chose my profession. I literally grew up in a fishing boat and knew from an early age that I would like to develop a career in some part of the marine industries. The College of Fisheries as it was known when I attended, offered the Food technology program which started my formal education toward my current career.

As a Marine Institute graduate, I am very proud of my role in lobbying for the Bachelor of Technology program many years ago when technology graduates like myself needed a “bridge” to a degree program. We fought long and hard to establish the current program and it has been a huge success for developing the careers of hundreds of people.

This is an amazing industry that offers new entrants tremendous career choices. Since the Fisheries Moratorium there has been a widely held view in Atlantic Canada that career choices within the seafood industry are limited and not very promising. My experience has been the complete opposite.

As the population ages and people retire, new entrants are required to fill their roles and as new technologies are introduced and adapted, the need for highly skilled individuals has expanded. With the continued evolution of food safety standards, fisheries science, third party certification and government regulations, the industry must have the skilled personnel to adapt to these ever-changing requirements.

Sometimes we all need to be reminded that we are in the food business and that as the world’s population continues to grow, it is driving demand for skilled and talented people to develop and build more efficient and sustainable high quality food production systems to meet the growing needs of the world. This will provide exciting career challenges to those willing to embrace it.

My daughter is about to graduate from the College of William and Mary with a BSc, a great school here in Virginia and I’m proud to say that she is now actively considering a Master’s program at MI, a decision which I have actively encouraged as I firmly believe it is one of the best career choices a person can make."