TMT WELCOMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
TMT welcomes new Executive Director. Following a robust, globally competitive recruitment process, the TMT Board of Trustees is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Gareth Johnstone as its new Executive Director, effective 1 July 2024.
An accomplished scientist and influential leader, Dr. Johnstone brings a wealth of fisheries sector expertise and experience to TMT.
He was the Director General at CGIAR/WorldFish, where he successfully shaped a new 2030 vision and influential global agenda on aquatic food systems. Dr. Johnstone served as an observer in the UN FAO Committee of Fisheries, as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Steering Committee on 2030 Sustainable Aquaculture, and as a scientific adviser and contributor to the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. He serves as the Vice-Chair of the OCEAN Expert Committee for the UK Government’s Blue Planet Fund.
Dr. Johnstone will focus on building on the start-up success of his predecessor to boost partnerships and collaboration, consolidate growth, support organisation development and strengthen the impacts of TMT’s work on ocean communities, ecosystems and economies. He will succeed TMT co-founder and outgoing Executive Director Duncan Copeland, who will be stepping down at the end of June 2024 to pursue new and exciting professional and personal endeavours.
Jan Thomas, TMT co-founder and Board Chair said:
“We are delighted to welcome Gareth as our new Executive Director. His exceptional leadership skills, strategic insights, proven track record of driving organisation and sector growth and innovation, and broad exposure to transdisciplinary sustainable development issues made him the ideal choice to lead TMT. His strong commitment to trust, transparency, collaboration and impact aligns perfectly with the TMT core values, making him an excellent cultural fit for our organisation. We have great confidence in his ability to steer TMT towards a new chapter of success.
We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Duncan for his enormous role and leadership contribution since the founding of TMT in 2013. As co-founder and the first Executive Director of TMT, Duncan successfully steered TMT through its initial start-up challenges, forging important partnerships, raising funds, creating the institutional structure, and building a talented team committed to reducing illegal fishing and improving ocean governance globally. We wish him every success in the future and look forward to his continued contribution as an incoming TMT Board member in 2025.”
Duncan Copeland, TMT co-founder and outgoing Executive Director remarked:
“It has been the greatest honour of my life to help create and lead TMT and its dedicated team. I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished together. Over the past decade, TMT has become a global innovator, leader and the partner of choice for fisheries intelligence, analysis and capacity development for many countries, intergovernmental organisations and non-state actors seeking our technical assistance and expertise. It has been an incredible journey with an incredible team, and I am confident Gareth is the right person to lead TMT towards continued impact and innovation. I look forward to supporting him and the team during the handover process and my future Board role.”
Dr. Gareth Johnstone, incoming TMT Executive Director noted:
“I am honoured and excited about the opportunity that I have been given to lead such a unique impact-driven organisation like TMT. The complex social, economic and environmental threats that illegal fishing and associated crimes pose on ocean-based communities, global food and nutrition security, climate change, human rights, blue economy, and the sustainable governance of our ocean, make it a challenge of the utmost importance. In this regard, I cannot think of a better organisation through which to make a meaningful contribution to this cause than TMT. I look forward to working closely with the Board and the talented team at TMT and continue to deliver exceptional value and impact for our partners, funders and stakeholders.”
About TMT
Founded in 2013, Stiftelsen Trygg Mat Tracking, commonly known as TMT, is a Norwegian not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing national fisheries authorities and international organisations with fisheries intelligence, analysis, and capacity building. TMT’s main goal is to reduce illegal fishing and improve sustainable ocean governance on a global scale. The organisation collaborates with partner countries facing capacity and resource challenges to effectively build their capabilities to identify, analyse, and utilise relevant information towards ensuring that fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) operations are intelligence-led. TMT is known internationally for its fisheries intelligence-related capabilities, analytical team and tools, national inter-agency and regional cooperation models, technical training methods, and trust-based collaboration with key countries and non-state actors.