Joe Hamby is a first generation American, born and raised in San Pedro, California. His mother was born in Croatia and came to San Pedro as a child. His grandfather was a tuna fisherman and his grandmother a fish cleaner in Fish Harbor when San Pedro was home to 14 tuna canneries including the largest one in the world.
Joe was educated at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York graduating with honors with a degree in nautical science. He served in the US Navy Reserve as a commissioned officer and was a US Coast Guard licensed ship's officer with experience at sea on a variety of merchant and fishing vessels.
Joe has a MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He worked for 10 years in the marine transportation industry before joining Tri Marine in 1986 when the company was acquired from an Italian government owned company.
For the past 20 plus years he has held a number of positions within the Tri Marine International companies including group chief financial officer and president of Tri Union International (the last tuna cannery in the United States). Joe is currently the managing director of Tri Marine International (Pte) Ltd., based in Singapore with responsibility for Tri Marine's global tuna supply business.
He is a former rugby player with over 30 years experience playing for top club and representative sides in the United States. He is active in the Singapore American community as a commissioner, coach and referee of various sports. He enjoys teaching Sunday school and singing in his church's choir. He is married to Kim and has 6 children, 3 of them in high school in Singapore.