Chris Ninnes was Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Operations of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) with direct line reports for regional operational teams in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific and for the technical teams within the Standards and Licensing department (which includes fisheries and chain of custody certification and logo licensing). He was a member of the senior management team, a Director of MSC's trading company, a member of the finance committee and a non-Executive member within MSC's governance bodies. He was also heavily involved with ISEAL, serving as vice chair and executive committee member of the Board and member of the finance committee. 

One of his key roles has been the oversight of the development and implementation of the organisation's integrated strategic plan; which has driven the rapid growth of the MSC.  Organisationally this required changes to portfolio management, the restructuring of teams, recruitment and redundancies to provide the current structure that is sustaining organisational growth.

Before his position at MSC, Ninnes held the position of Technical Director at MRAG Ltd and as Vice President of MRAG Americas. He built up extensive change management experience in various roles within the UK government's Department for International Development with senior experience in Eastern and Southern Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. His career started as a fisheries officer in Kenya (VSO) and was formerly a commercial fishermen operating off the SW coast of the UK.