Katie Pullen is the new Head of Finance at Great Northern Salmon.
Photo: Great Northern Salmon LinkedIn.
The Maine-based RAS salmon project, Great Northern Salmon (GNS), announced the appointment of Katie Pullen as its new Head of Finance. The land-based aquaculture company welcomed its new hire via a post on LinkedIn.
With a bachelor's degree in business administration and an MBA, according to information provided by Great Northern Salmon, Pullen brings more than 15 years of experience in finance, operations, and strategic management across multiple sectors, including consumer goods, manufacturing, and technology.
Great Northern Salmon also said that its new Head of Finance has led cross-functional teams in accounting, budgeting, and systems integration, creating robust financial infrastructures to support growth and operational efficiency.
Finally, GNS highlighted that Katie Pullen's career includes developing financial models for scaling organizations, overseeing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations, and promoting process improvements that are suited to both emerging and mature business environments.
"GNS is happy to welcome Katie as our new Head of Finance," Marianne Naess, CEO of Great Northern Salmon, told WeAreAquaculture, commenting on the appointment. "Her experience adds valuable expertise to GNS now that we are entering into a new stage of development of the company," she continued. "GNS's management team is looking forward to including Katie in our team."
Virtual view of Great Northern Salmon's project in Millinocket, Maine.
One of the companies included in the Xcelerate Aqua portfolio, Great Northern Salmon - formerly Katahdin Salmon - is developing a land-based RAS farm to produce 5,000 metric tons in Phase 1, with an expansion to 10,000 metric tons in Phase 2 of the construction in Millinocket, Maine.
The facility will be located on a 1400-acre property formerly owned by the Great Northern Paper Company, which, when it opened in 1900, was the largest paper mill in the world, and the first to have an on-site hydroelectric generation and distribution facility.
As Mariane Naess explained to WeAreAquaculture in an exclusive interview, this existing infrastructure made the location ideal for the GNS project. The Millinocket site has abundant, clean, cold water, already excavated, contamination-free land that can be used with a drainage pipe and electrical infrastructure.
As it was previously an industrial site, it also had the necessary permits from the time when it was a pulp mill. In addition, it has access to 100% renewable energy from the local hydroelectric plant, located just a few hundred meters from the facilities, the same which previously supplied the Great Northern Paper Company.
Thus, the project secured key permits in May last year and began site preparation works in October, also in 2024. After a temporary pause during the winter, the company resumed operations in the spring and continued to make progress in laying the groundwork for an efficient construction process for its RAS salmon farm.
When asked about the progress of the project, the CEO of Great Northern Salmon told WeAreAquaculture that it is "progressing." While construction continues, what we already know is that Norwegian technology provider Eyvi will be GNS's RAS supplier, while its owners made a significant strategic investment in the Maine-based company in April this year.