RAINFOREST Seafoods CEO Brian Jardim has been appointed a member of the Jamaica Observer board of directors, Chairman Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart announced yesterday.

Jardim, an accomplished businessman, founded Rainforest in 1995 and has built it into the leading seafood provider in the Caribbean.

Born in England in 1963, Jardim spent his childhood between Jamaica and Guyana.

He earned a diploma in business administration from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada; a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in financial accounting from the University of Florida.

He practised with Ernst and Young in Miami for two years and became a certified public accountant in Florida before joining the Sandals and ATL Group of companies in Jamaica where he spent 10 years and eventually became president of Sandals Resorts International.

In 1995, he partnered with Ian Dear to form Island Entertainment Brands (IEB), which owns and operates 12 restaurants and bars in three Caribbean islands, including the Caribbean franchise of Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, Marguerites Seafood by the Sea, Groovy Grouper, Blue Beat Jazz Bar, and the Jamaica Bobsled Café franchise.

In March 2010, Jardim sold his interest in IEB to focus on expanding Rainforest Seafoods and his other Caribbean interests.

Today, Rainforest imports seafood products from around the world and further processes, brands and distributes throughout the Caribbean. The company operates two state-of-the-art depots and 18 retail outlets in Jamaica with a distribution network that extends to all major supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, and wholesalers.

Over the past few years, Rainforest has experienced rapid growth, and has been diversifying its operations even further into seafood processing plants, fishing vessels and supplying fresh seafood to the US market.

Jardim, who is a member of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, sits on the board of directors of First Global Bank and CGM Gallagher Insurance Company.

Married to Shelagh for 24 years and the proud father of three grown sons, Jardim enjoys playing dominoes and running in his free time.