DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR: GORDON KING

Gordon has worked at Taylor Shellfish for over 32 years, he began his career at Taylor Shellfish digging clams in Hood Canal. At that time, he also started working to establish a mussel farm. He spearheaded the development of a longline mussel farm offshore from the Quilcene hatchery, and Gallagher’s Cove. At this time, we were relying on natural set for mussel seed. Gordon worked closely with the Quilcene Hatchery to develop methods to produce mussel seed reliably and efficiently. Gordon has been instrumental in developing our current mussel farms in Totten Inlet that now produces over one million pounds of mussels annually. Gordon goes out of his way to help not only his crews, but also other departments across the company. When we ran into water intake issues at the hatchery last year, he spent countless hours diving to fix and modify the deep-water intake line to ensure the best quality of water enters the hatchery. Gordon also represents Taylor Shellfish on numerous community organizations and boards.  

MANAGER OF THE YEAR: PHILIP SHEARY

Phil began working for Taylor Shellfish in 2015. He began on the South Bend farm and then transitioned to the Bay Center farm where we supervised our flip bag infrastructure installation crew. When a management position opened up for the South Bend department, Phil applied and stood out in the interview process. He moved back to where his career started with Taylor Shellfish and hit the ground running. Phil is full of enthusiasm and energy. He is the only person we have seen run from BP105 to BP109 through the mud. Just over half a mile. Phil cares deeply about his farm. He knows every seed group and harvest plan across his farm and approaches his work with pride. Phil leads by example. Wherever the South Bend crew is, you will find Phil. Phil has a positive attitude and a desire for continuous improvement. A few years back we began installing G2 floating bags on his farm. Under his leadership, the farm is healthy, thriving, and has the first major groups of floating bag oysters approaching harvest size. He has been instrumental to the success of our floating bags in Willapa. In his three years as manager, Phil has transformed his farm and proven himself as an exemplary leader at Taylor Shellfish. 

EMPLOYEES OF THE YEAR: CHRIS GARD & AIDAN SEMINGSON

Chris will hit his 10-year anniversary with Taylor in April this year. Chris is full of enthusiasm and always has a smile on his face. His attitude and work ethic have made him a great leader and teacher amongst our geoduck crews and he has become our go to person for all things related to our diving operations. As the DPIC on the Lucky Duck, he maintained a productive and safe environment. When an opportunity to develop a Diver Operations Supervisor position arose, his name was immediately the first on our list. Chris approaches every day with a commitment to do his best. We are excited to see Chris create this new role at Taylor Shellfish and improve our diving operations across the company. When talking with Chris the other day, he made it known how much he loves his job and that his goal is to retire at Taylor Shellfish. Chris, thank you for everything you bring to Taylor Shellfish. We look forward to working with you for many, many more years.   

Aidan Semingson is one of the original Taylor Mariculture employees. Aidan currently oversees all the oyster FLUPSY’s at Taylor Mariculture. One of our 2023 company goals was to embrace innovation and Aidan is a champion of innovation. One of the things that TMAR doesn’t have available is a shop to run to whenever something needs repaired or altered so that means Aidan and the crew do most of the maintenance and tinkering on the FLUPSY inhouse.  Aidan enjoys making the laborious tasks on the FLUPSY easier for the crew by engineering and building simpler methods. This year he created the seed cash register which allows his crew to fill FLUPSY seed orders more comfortably. Garrett said Aidan’s efforts are definitely noticed by the crew and the improvements aid in crew moral.  Thank you, Aidan, for all your hard work.  

     

NOMINEES 

We also want to recognize all employees who were nominated to receive these awards. Thank you to the following employees for your many contributions to Taylor Shellfish: Saleh Prohim, Joel Wood, Roberto Quintana, Justin Lanman, Nels Whipple, Benoit Eudeline, Mark Cochran, Jason Ragan, Garrett Collins, Dammon Saunders, Tony Luoma, Ramon Tinoco, Ann Naccarato, Jamey Ragan, Luca Crudo, Cody Rebh, Jeromy Munoz, Davin Rowe-Grout, Jeremy Coleman, Adam Randall, Rudy Smith, Tim Weinzirl, Carl Goldsby, Curtis Stretchbery, David Pederson, George Orozco, Erik Carter, Patricia Calzada, Kasey Soha, Kai Walker, Croff Dady, Alex Keevy, Mat Bowcutt, Ben Price, Maisom Rony, Jazmin Manzano, Shannon Pearson, Levi Ernsting, Xochitl Nunez, Ana Andres, Jackson Wells, Salvador Loza Jr., Hung Ly and Kurt Anderson