A frequently controversial figure and a major player in Iceland’s business community over several decades, Samherji CEO Thorsteinn Már Baldvinsson has announced his decision to step down in a letter to the company’s staff.
He has been Samherji’s CEO for 42 years, going back to the company’s origins in 1983 when the three then-partners acquired what was then Grindavík-based fishing company Samherji, which owned the Polish-built trawler Guðsteinn. The rest is history – Guðsteinn was converted to a factory vessel and renamed Akureyrin, becoming the cornerstone of the company’s growth.
In 1994 the company began its overseas expansion. In 2022 these operations were divested to the Dutch-based Alda Seafood. This included activity in the UK, France, Spain, Germany and elsewhere around the world.
His last day in the job will be at the end of June, and his successor has already been announced – as Thorsteinn Már’s Baldvinsson’s son Baldvin Thorsteinsson, already one of the company’s major shareholders and chairman of the Samherji board as of 2023, steps into the CEO role.
‘I decided a long time ago that I would step down as CEO on my own terms, and before I get old and grumpy,’ Thorsteinn Már Baldvinsson wrote in the letter to staff.
‘After roughly four decades in a job like this, moving on is a natural next step. Every change has its moment and this time feels propitious. There’s no point waiting for calms seas, as in this job that always comes when it’s too late.’
He recalled that when this venture began with his cousins, the kitchen table at home provided ample space for the company paperwork, while today Samherji has a workforce of around 800 people.
‘I remain convinced that the company’s future is bright, so long as the authorities ensure the industry a secure operating environment. Although this decision marks a milestone, I’m not retiring completely,’ he told staff, adding that this includes retaining seats on the boards of aquaculture venture Samherji Fiskeldi and Síldarvinnslan.
