Leadership transition: thank you marguerite!

After 4 inspiring years as chairperson of the supervisory board of Kelp Blue, Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen is stepping down as of 20 February 2025. Her replacement will be Sam Blake, Partner at Antin Infrastructure Partners.

“It has been an incredible journey the past four years to oversee Kelp Blue's spectacular team rewilding oceans with kelp forests and giving a home to hundreds of beautiful species,” said Marguerite, “I am especially proud to see that the production of our biostimulant StimBlue+ boosts crop resilience, enables regenerative agriculture and contributes to a more sustainable world.”
 
Kelp Blue helps farmers realise better profit margins and regenerate the health and vitality of their soils, by means of a biostimulant it produces from the kelp forests it plants offshore. It is a triple-P (People, Planet, Profit) business with deep impacts encompassing Carbon sequestration, boosting oceanic biodiversity, employment diversification in fragile coastal towns and bringing the soil and biodiversity benefits of regenerative agriculture to its end markets. Kelp Blue is a winner of the Zayed Sustainability Prize (2023), has been nominated for the Earthshot Prize (2024 & 2025), and is one of only 20 finalists in the US$50mln Carbon Removal XPRIZE, to be awarded on April 25th 2025.
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“In our first 4 years with Marguerite at the helm we’ve gone from a handful of determined enthusiasts with a vision and a business plan, to a thriving company delivering to customers across Europe – particularly grape, strawberry and almond farmers, who can realise over 25% yield improvements by applying our product Stimblue+. We’ve developed storm-tested proprietary technologies in the oceans and in our factories, operating on the world’s biggest seaweed aquaculture license in Namibia, while expanding in New Zealand, Alaska, and South America. Marguerite is an amazing connector – whatever topic you broach, she personally knows everyone who matters in the sector, ” said Daniel Hooft, Founder and CEO. “Sam brings us a different lens and skillset as we rise to the challenge of scaling: the trajectory towards being a growth business that needs project financing at a vastly different order of magnitude to expand and continue to deliver to customers, all across the globe.”
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Sam Blake, incoming chairman, said, “I am very excited to be joining Kelp Blue at this pivotal moment. I’m grateful to Marguerite for her meticulous stewardship of the board and look forward to working closely with Daniel, the board and the rest of the team on the next leg of Kelp Blue’s important mission.”