CEO Note: Introducing Lars “Lasse” Gustavsson, Oceana in Europe’s New Senior Vice President and Executive Director - Oceana
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October 21, 2014

CEO Note: Introducing Lars “Lasse” Gustavsson, Oceana in Europe’s New Senior Vice President and Executive Director

 

I am writing to you today to inform you of leadership changes for our European campaigns for abundant oceans.

Xavier Pastor, our leader in Europe, will retire next year after more than four decades in ocean conservation. My colleagues and I spent the past several months searching to find his successor, among many excellent candidates. I can now announce that Lars “Lasse” Gustavsson will replace Pastor as the next Senior Vice President and Executive Director of Oceana in Europe.

Gustavsson comes to Oceana with 30 years of work experience in conservation, organization development and teaching. Most recently, he served as the Executive Director of Conservation at World Wildlife Fund International (WWF), where he managed global conservation efforts and oversaw a team of 3,000 staff members. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer of WWF Sweden and was responsible for re-launching WWF’s International Baltic Sea Program in nine countries as the Program Director of the Baltic Sea Ecoregion Program. Like Pastor, Gustavsson has also held leadership positions at Greenpeace.

This position is an extremely important role to Oceana’s success, both in Europe and in the world. It requires an extraordinarily talented and energetic person to carry forward the terrific campaigns to rebuild a healthy and abundant ocean that we have fought during the past decade. Xavier Pastor, Oceana’s founding leader in Europe, will continue to work with Oceana leading our at-sea expeditions and as a Senior Advisor in international projects going forward.  

For the oceans,
Andrew Sharpless
Chief Executive Officer