Atlantic Canada's Top Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 24
24
SPONSOR CONTENT
ATLANTIC CANADA’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2025)
New career opportunities are a given at High Liner Foods
W
hen Ryan Wall
was a kid in
Cape Breton
eating fish from
Lunenburgbased High Liner Foods Inc., he
couldn’t have predicted that in
2008, his first job out of college
would be at the leading North
American processor and marketer
of value-added frozen seafood. “I
had no idea how many opportunities there would be for me here,”
he says.
After studying computer electronics at Nova Scotia Community
College, he accepted a support
desk analyst contract role at
High Liner’s Halifax office. “I was
passionate about technology, and
that contract gave me a really good
feel for the company,” he says. In
the first six months, he travelled
to the Massachusetts and New
Hampshire plants to work on
radio frequency computers on the
forklifts.
“That experience was pretty cool
for a young, up-and-coming employee,” says Wall, now director of
IT design and delivery. “I relished
those early opportunities and
jumped at them. My career growth
has had a lot of progression, and
it has been a combination of
ambition, support and well-timed
luck.”
Vice president of operations
Ed Snook enjoys helping new
employees find their footing and
encouraging them to grow. “We’re
a big enough company to have
presence in the market, but small
enough that we all know each
other,” he says. “We look at our
people’s total potential because we
view our talent as a company-wide
pool.”
Snook grew up in Riverport,
N.S., 15 minutes away from High
Liner’s head office and processing
plant in Lunenburg. His father
was a commercial fisherman, but
Snook opted for a career on land
in the food industry, first in Nova
Scotia, then the United States.
In 2018, his wife handed him a
printout for the general manager’s
position at High Liner.
“I threw my resumé in, and the
High Liner Foods offers employees a hybrid schedule with flexibility to choose their work from home and
office days.
recruiter called the next day,” says
Snook. When he walked into the
processing plant on his first day,
he said hello to three employees
who were former high-school
classmates. “It was like coming
home,” he says, “and it still feels
that way.”
We look at our people’s
total potential because
we view our talent as a
company-wide pool.
— Ed Snook
Vice President of Operations
Snook is proud of High Liner’s
people-first culture, where recognition plays an important role
in the workplace experience for
plant employees, many of whom
have nearly 50 years of service.
From the quarterly Anchor
Program that rewards employees
for positive safety, quality, production or teamwork behaviours,
to recognition meals prepared
and served by management to
their teams, the company makes a
genuine effort to show employees
they’re valued.
Development opportunities also
include a path for plant employees
to join a company-paid apprenticeship program within the trades
to help employees earn their Red
Seal certifications.
Close-knit teams give back to
their community, from volunteering at food banks each fall to
clean-up activities in the spring.
“High Liner’s corporate purpose is
‘nourishing lives,’ and our employees believe that volunteering is an
