ABOUT
The people behind Encore seafoods have been pleasing tough audiences for more than 20 years. We share one unifying vision: creating awesome, all-natural entrees that keep customers coming back for more. Always delicious, always natural.
OUR TEAM
Charles Hansen
President
President Charles Hansen and two friends started their first business from scratch in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1992.
Hansen spent the next two decades as a driving force behind Sonoma Seafoods, shepherding its growth from a small foodie start-up in the heart of Sonoma County Wine Country to a booming national business with with plants in California, Nevada and Illinois.
Thanks to their obsession with quality, Hansen and partners Matt Mariani and Scott Gray cultivated a client list that included many of the nation's top retailers.
Hansen, Mariani and Gray sold Sonoma Seafoods at a profit to historic seafood industry giant Slade Gorton in 2010.
Hansen remained with Slade Gorton through 2012, overseeing the integration of Sonoma Seafoods employees, plants and products into the Boston-based company while gaining invaluable experience in the global seafood industry.
After a well-earned break, Hansen decided once was not enough. He launched his own "affordable gourmet" foods company, dedicated once again to creating premier entrees handmade in the USA.
Why name the company Encore Seafoods? It was an easy choice, Hansen said: "Everyone at Encore Seafoods is dedicated to making dishes so wonderful that customers will keep coming back for more."
Matt Mariani
Chief Executive Officer
Matt Mariani has a degree in International Business and is a licensed pilot working on his instrument rating. But his real passion is food -- quality dishes made with real, fresh ingredients.
Mariani began cooking in his teens while working at restaurant jobs. While friends were ordering pizza, he was sauteing mushrooms in wine, butter and garlic to top steaks and serve them up to his appreciative parents and sisters.
After graduating from college and learning the food industry business at Empire Poultry and California Specialty Products, Mariani joined forces with two friends -- Charles Hansen and Scott Gray -- to launch MSI/Sonoma Seafoods. Over the course of 18 years, they grew it into a thriving national business supplying quality retailers across the United States.
In December of 2014, Mariani joined longtime friend and former business partner Charles Hansen at Encore Seafoods as its Chief Executive Officer.
He brings to the company more than two decades of experience in the value-added foods industry, as well as a passion for quality and customer service. Never one to overcomplicate things, when asked about his vision for Encore, he says simply: "We're in the business of making things that people want to buy, again and again."
On board with Hansen at Encore, working with the nation's best seafood and ingredient suppliers and continuing his commitment to bring quality to the top food retailers in North America, Mariani is back exactly where he wants to be.
Jennifer Lambert
Financial Controller
Jennifer Delima Lambert is an experienced accounting and finance professional with nearly two decades of experience in the value-added foods industry. When she's not crunching numbers at Encore, she's enjoying life with her family.
Hani Nashnush
Quality Assurance Director
A graduate of Food Science and Technology at Oregon State University, Hani has worked in Quality and Research and Development within the Food Industry for over 16 years. He has diverse products experience and heavy regulatory background in FDA and USDA products. Hani joined Encore Seafoods in 2019 as the Quality Assurance Director for the company. He oversees the quality assurance department and ensures regulatory compliance and adherence to the highest quality standards. Hani also assists in the development of new products for the company.
Dave Christy
Operations Manager
Dave Christy has more than 30 years experience as a production, scheduling and operations manager. Dave served as the operations manager at Sonoma Seafoods for Matt and Charles for more than six years; he rejoined the team at Encore Seafoods in 2017. Dave oversees day to day operations at the Encore plant in Sparks, managing 45 employees, two shifts and more than 12 product lines.