John Z. Blazevich

John Z. Blazevich is an entrepreneur, executive, inventor and philanthropist. Most notably, he is a seafood executive and former CEO of Contessa Premium Foods, a company he founded in 1984.
Early life
Blazevich is an ethnic Croat and was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina. His parents immigrated to Southern California in 1958. He holds a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from the University of Southern California.
Career
In 1980, Blazevich began his career providing oversight and management for worldwide procurement and sale of various tuna species to leading canneries. During such time he saw an opportunity to bring farm-raised Black tiger shrimp to the US market where this product was relatively unknown.
Contessa Premium Foods - In 1984, Blazevich founded Contessa Premium Foods in San Pedro, Los Angeles.
Viva Foods - Currently Blazevich is founder and CEO of Viva Food Group. Viva farms and buys shrimp in Thailand and Vietnam.
Entrepreneurship
In the 1980s, Blazevich pioneered the concept of frozen convenience meals. Today they represent a major component of the frozen food retail market.
Patents
Blazevich holds numerous patents related to food processing, packaging and marketing.

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