ASC appoints Ally Dingwall as Senior Director of Technical Operations

The ASC has appointed Ally Dingwall as Senior Director of Technical Operations, a new role providing leadership and coordination to ASC’s standard systems and certification assurance processes.

Ally joins ASC from Sainsbury’s UK with decades of seafood industry experience, including as a member of ASC’s Supervisory Board for the last three years where he has been closely involved in new developments such as the ASC Feed Standard. His previous role was as Sainsbury’s Aquaculture and Fisheries Manager.

Industry experience

Ally said: “Working to expand and improve Sainsbury’s commitment to responsible seafood involved a lot of close work with ASC, whose standards are trusted and respected across the industry. On top of that I’ve been able to see how ASC works from the inside as a board member, and I was impressed by what I saw.

“I believe that ASC will play a crucial role in ensuring a growing supply of environmentally sustainably and socially responsible food from the aquaculture industry. I’m excited to be using my industry experience to help achieve that.”

New role

As the ASC programme has grown rapidly around the world, the team has expanded to ensure its standards continue to represent best practice and are effectively applied. The new Senior Director role will help to coordinate the activities of the ASC’s two teams charged with these technical roles, and Ally’s retail background will also bring an important market-facing perspective to the role.

The Senior Director of Technical Operations will oversee the ASC’s Standards and Science Directorate and the Programme Assurance Directorate. The Standards and Science Directorate is responsible for creating and revising ASC’s standards, and the Programme Assurance Directorate coordinates with independent certification companies to ensure the standards are applied properly and that only certified seafood is delivered to the market when the logo is used. The Senior Director will help the teams coordinate this work, while also providing strategic direction.

Chris Ninnes, ASC CEO said: “Having worked with Ally for many years I know how passionate he is about responsible aquaculture. We’re really excited that all his experience and expertise will now be dedicated towards the technical functions of ASC, which are foundational to the Programme and are what set us apart as the world’s leading aquaculture certification standard.”

Ally’s role will also involve supporting the ASC at executive level, working with the CEO, Senior Management Team, and Supervisory Board to ensure technical services are coherent, innovative and aligned to ASC’s wider strategic plans. ASC recently appointed Willem de Bruijn to carry out a similar role for ASC’s Marketing and Communication functions.

Ally’s other roles in over thirty years spent in the seafood industry have given him additional experience in aquaculture production and processing, and responsible sourcing policy development and implementation.