About Us
Wild Planet Foods, Inc. is a privately held company, whose 100% US ownership includes Wild Planet management, the SeaChange Investment Fund – a Packard Foundation-backed private equity group investing in companies committed to sustainable seafood initiatives -- White Road Investments and a number of the US fishermen who directly supply Wild Planet. Our offices are located along the Redwood Coast of northern California in McKinleyville, near Eureka.
William F. Carvalho
President and Founder
Wild Planet Foods
A seafood industry veteran with twenty years of experience in nearly all areas of operations and responsibilities, William (Bill) Carvalho serves as the President of Wild Planet Foods.
In 1990, Mr. Carvalho founded the seafood company Carvalho Fisheries, which grew to become a major primary receiver and producer of a wide range of West Coast seafood products. From this company sprang Wild Planet Foods in 2004.
Wild Planet Foods is mission driven to promote wild seafood products harvested only from ecologically exemplary fisheries. Through public education about the best choices of seafood consumption, Wild Planet Foods aims to impact consumer choices and provide market driven change in global harvest practices.
Mr. Carvalho’s responsibilities at Wild Planet Foods include oversight of product development, production, distribution operations, and commodity sales and sales fulfillment. He is also responsible for quality assurance, regulatory compliance, and the analysis of environmental criteria necessary for a product to be included in the Wild Planet Foods’ product line.
In addition, Mr. Carvalho is chiefly responsible for researching and recommending new products and line extensions. Moreover, his fluency in three languages and broad cultural understanding makes him well qualified in the global sourcing of raw materials and co-packing partners for Wild Planet Foods.
Mr. Carvalho is skilled in visionary perspective and over the last two decades has pioneered a number of emerging niche markets in the seafood arena, such as the creation and development of the domestic live Dungeness crab as well as the European export for albacore tuna. His positioning of Wild Planet Foods has redefined the seafood grocery space and his background in the seafood industry - coupled with his natural food and “pescavore” ideals - has led him to establish Wild Planet’s shelf-stable product line as the leading specialty and sustainable seafood line in the category.
Mr. Carvalho is currently a director and the secretary of the American Fishermen’s Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is the accumulation of biological scientific data for the purpose of sustainable tuna stock management. He speaks at domestic and international conferences and is viewed in the industry as a leader in the seafood sustainability movement.
Prior to his career in the seafood sector, Mr. Carvalho founded a successful service business that he operated for fifteen years after graduating from high school in Humboldt County, Northern California. He is the grandson of Azorean immigrants and lives with his wife of 36 years in McKinleyville, California. Mr. and Mrs. Carvalho spent 13 years together in volunteer ministry activities prior to the arrival of their three children.
William J. McCarthy
Vice President and Co Founder
Wild Planet Foods
William (Bill) McCarthy serves as the vice president of operations and procurement at Wild Planet Foods. He brings to the position over twenty five years’ experience in the seafood business in nearly all areas of operations and responsibilities. Mr. McCarthy oversees product procurement, vetting the required environmental criteria for additional products, new project development, regulatory compliance and quality control.
Mr. McCarthy was appointed by the Oregon State Secretary of Agriculture to serve as a commissioner on the State Albacore Commission from 2003 through 2006.
Over the last two decades, Mr. McCarthy has pioneered a number of emerging niche markets in the seafood arena. With his partner Bill Carvalho, Mr. McCarthy has developed the domestic live Dungeness crab market as well as the European export market for albacore tuna. In addition, he positioned Wild Planet Foods’ shelf-stable product line to capture the interest of the growing consumer base seeking the highest quality products, while assuring sourcing procedures in compliance with the company mission of responsible seafood harvesting. On behalf of Wild Planet Foods, Mr. McCarthy procures the finest wild seafood only from fisheries that are sustainable and free of wasteful by-catch and habitat destruction.
Before joining Mr. Carvalho at Carvalho Fisheries in 2000 (Carvalho’s seafood company that preceded Wild Planet Foods), Mr. McCarthy was a partner with International C Food Marketing and served as general manager. During his time with ICM, Mr. McCarthy built the first Manila Clam Depuration Plant in Canada and generated sales throughout the U.S. Mr. McCarthy also built and ran a 500 seat seafood restaurant in Florence, Oregon and managed dock operations up and down the West Coast.
Mr. McCarthy was with Fish Finder Seafood Co. from 1985 to 1988 in management, purchasing and sales. Fish Finder specializes in the importing and exporting of seafood products. From 1977 to 1984, Mr. McCarthy was with Stanco Sales and Service as a senior supervisor and salesman. Stanco was the Hartz Mountain Corp wholesale distributor. At that time Mr. McCarthy was responsible for creating ads and new store setups.
