VISIONARY

Noel Turner

Great leaders launch great movements, and TURNER is a great movement, with a great leader.

Noel Turner is a global citizen. Kiwi by birth, American and European by choice…Noel lives a life of integrity. He's authentic, enduring, compelling, relentless, and dedicated to perfection.

His commitment to excellence has been observed by thousands. His passion and energy moves the people around him. He's a motivator who travels the planet to inspire people.

When you meet Noel, you stretch to find the caption to put under his portrait: Passionate? Visionary? Unique? Any of those would fit, but none say it all.

Noel Turner

Pioneer and Legend of the New Zealand Mussel Industry

The Story of TURNER and Noel Turner’s life story are tightly aligned. They are inseparable. Noel Turner's culture, philosophy, mission, passion, values, integrity are intrinsically woven into the fabric of TURNER. We are passionately committed to helping people achieve and sustain vitality, energy, health, well-being, happiness, and prosperity as they pursue the life for which they were created to experience.


New Zealand - Whanganui 1955: Noel Turner was born into a third-generation fishing family and grew-up on the ocean and in the bush. Noel left school in 1971 at 16 years of age and started his own fishing business catching and selling fish. Noel went on and pioneered the New Zealand Greenshell Mussel Industry; he started dredging mussels in the Marlborough Sounds in 1972, then pioneered the aquaculturing of wild Greenshell mussels in 1976, then processing them in his factory in 1978, then shipping and exporting the first container of Greenshell mussels ever out of New Zealand to the USA in 1982. 

 

Back in the 60’s and 70’s Greenshell mussels were an unknown shellfish to most New Zealander’s and the world over. Noel had grown up eating Greenshell mussels and knew how delicious they were. In 1976 Noel learnt from a marine biologist about the incredible health benefits of the Greenshell mussels and seized on the opportunity to aquaculture and sell them. There was no easy start to the Greenshell mussel industry, it struggled severely in its early years. 

 

No one understood or appreciated this underrated shellfish, someone had to go tell the world about them. It was Noel who took the bold and courageous step to move the industry forward. In 1985 Noel jumped on a plane to America and through his relentless efforts in the USA radically changed the industry forever. Noel lived on the road full-time for the next 15 years promoting and educating restaurateurs, hotels, cruise lines, and chefs on this incredible gourmet product. 

 

Noel single-handedly “main-streamed” mussels and calamari onto the menus of restaurants all across America in the 1980’s and 1990’s when no mussels or calamari were found on any menus, and the rest is history. Noel then moved onto Europe in 1994 and did the same. Noel visited over 30,000 restaurants all over the world between 1985 - 2024 promoting New Zealand seafood, shellfish, beef, and lamb.