Melanie Siggs Named GAA’s Director of Strategic Engagements

Melanie Siggs has joined the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) in the newly created position of Director of Strategic Engagements, the organization announced on July 19.

In this role, Siggs will help explore the creation of products and services that meet GAA’s goal of adding value, and values, to the organization’s proposition while advocating, educating and demonstrating best practices. She will look at the development of non-core activities, identify opportunities to work with new partners and help lead teams to develop proof-of-concept work, prototypes and pilots.

Siggs has acted as an ad hoc advisor to the organization for a number of years, particularly during the development of a new governance structure that led to GAA’s Standards Oversight Committee in 2008, as well as during the formation of an education platform. She has been a board member of the Responsible Aquaculture Foundation, GAA’s educational arm, since 2013.

“I very much enjoy the Global Aquaculture Alliance vision, energy and ‘can do’ attitude to finding ways that support the development of responsible aquaculture in ways which work for business and best practices. I continue to be passionate about the role of good standards in helping create change and provide the assurance frameworks needed,” said Siggs. “I’m not a technical expert, we have many of those, but there is also an imperative to see how we stay ahead of the wave, responding to new challenges, creating efficiencies and sharing knowledge. To that end I’m excited to join GAA more formally to explore innovative and collaborative initiatives. These are going to be critical in meeting the demand for seafood in the coming years as we need to enable responsible, but considerable, growth and attract investment.”

Added GAA Executive Director Wally Stevens: “Melanie has for many years been a guiding light for those of us involved with sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. We are delighted to be able to capture more of her time in support of the GAA.”

Siggs will continue in her role as Associate Director at Sancroft International in London while serving as GAA’s head of innovation.

About GAA
The Global Aquaculture Alliance is an international, nonprofit trade association dedicated to advancing environmentally and socially responsible aquaculture. Through the development of its Best Aquaculture Practices certification standards, GAA has become the leading standards-setting organization for aquaculture seafood.

About Melanie Siggs
Siggs has extensive experience of working internationally across both commercial and NGO sectors addressing a range of issues relating to food and timber, although she is best known for her work on fisheries and aquaculture in the past 10 years. She holds an MSc in Responsibility & Business Practice. Most recently Siggs has spent time helping Environmental Defense Fund build their foundations in Europe, following four years as a Special Adviser to HRH The Prince of Wales’ International Sustainability Unit. A former Vice President of Sustainable Markets, working in partnership with the private sector for U.S. NGO SeaWeb, Melanie has travelled extensively applying her corporate background to ensure a solid understanding of global conservation issues as they relate to private sectors’ supply chains, public policy and best practice. She is a former Head of Strategic Communications for Finnish forest products giant UPM-Kymmene and acted as Head of Corporate Affairs in the UK, for Australian company Global Renewables.