A LIFE SHAPED BY THE SHORE

By Aidan Markward URI ’21

Raised on the South Shore of Massachusetts, Andrew Marshall URI ’97 always knew his future was tied to the sea. With its deeply rooted seafood community and summer days of point-break surfing at his family’s Cape house, his coastal New England upbringing left a lasting imprint.

“There’s always been a big fishing community here, big shellfish community,” Marshall said. “My father was a commercial fisherman, and I still do it on the side. … I knew I wanted to be in the seafood business pretty much right away.”

With surfboard in hand and sights set on a maritime career, Marshall enrolled at the University of Rhode Island and majored in coastal management and policy. He sailed with the Sea Education Association, gaining hands-on experience in aquaculture. Joining Phi Kappa Psi came naturally after meeting brothers at Rhode Island Beta his first semester.

“The first night I went into the house there were surfboards in every room,” he said. “I knew right away that these must be my people.”

Marshall described RI Beta as a tight-knit community that reinforced his values of accountability and professionalism. Still in touch with many of his brothers, Marshall has served as vice president of the chapter’s housing corporation since 2023. Striving to support the chapter’s needs and contribute to a strong alumni network, he credits his continued involvement to his positive undergraduate experiences.

“[The brothers] would all take turns with chores around the house,” Marshall said. “We constantly played volleyball in our backyard, got along great with some other fraternities, and even won Greek Week a couple of times. We all took pride in the chapter, and it was a great thing to be a part of.”

It was during his freshman year that he met his wife, a sister of Sigma Kappa’s Phi chapter. Marshall thanks his involvement in Greek life for its role in shaping their relationship. Now married for 23 years, they have two children.

Marshall’s academic path continued to align closely with his coastal career goals. 

“The degree was pretty specialized,” he said. “Early on, you decide whether you want to work in the marine biology field or the [seafood] business side of things. I learned quickly that I didn’t want to look into a microscope for the rest of my life.”

Back in the early 2000s, Marshall said, the seafood industry was migrating from cash-based to computerized. Leaning into his economics background, he became national sales manager for Aquanor Marketing.  Back then, he and his team channeled their inner weatherman to determine the best time to import fish from as far away as Iceland and Norway. 

“It was the end of the wild west era of seafood, and the whole dynamic of the business was changing,” he said. “It was really cool.”

Through Aquanor, he connected with oyster farmers in need of a marketing team. That launched his relationship with Cape Cod Oyster Company. 

As New England’s largest lease holder for oyster farming, the company hadn’t yet figured out how to get a consistent supplier.

“I was doing all of the sales, marketing and social media when it was in its infancy and becoming more relevant,” Marhsall said. “All of a sudden, oysters were becoming this really cool thing, and I think the Internet had much to do with that.”

Marshall continued to work for Aquanor and manage Cape Cod’s national sales until 2017, when he began working for the oyster company directly as national sales director. Navigating his career through the “oyster renaissance,” Marshall now serves as vice president of sales and part-owner. He helped increase production from 200,000 oysters per year to upward of 9 million.

“We’re the largest oyster producers in the Northeast,” he said. “I’m on the road visiting these big companies, visiting customers in Miami, San Francisco, LA, Denver. … I have the fun job. You get to see the sides of cities you’d otherwise never see.”

With days spent traveling nationwide, attending seafood events and conventions, and exploring the backend of restaurants, Marshall takes the most pride in his customer relationships and their trust in the Cape Cod product. “You go to some restaurants and see an entire page in the menu dedicated to Cape Cod Oyster,” he said. “When I see the public marketing side of the business, all the hard work put in for a restaurant to believe in us so much, that’s what brings me the most joy.”

Marshall’s career path has taken him places he never could have imagined, but the South Shore of Massachusetts will always be home. Using his political experience from serving as Highly Migratory Species Advisor on Capitol Hill in 2016, Marshall founded Save Duxbury Beach in 2022, a nonprofit aimed to restore balance between the recreation, conservation and preservation of the local beach and surrounding coastlines. 

“There was a wealthy group of property owners that wanted to shut down access to Duxbury Beach,” Marshall said. “The public has had access to the beach for four generations, giving kids and families that live in the area a place to make core memories they can hold onto forever. I told my community we could let these people run us over, or we could fight back and do something about it.”

Between access projects, beach cleanups and awareness events, Marshall said, the nonprofit took on a life of its own. It united the community of Duxbury behind a common cause.

“It’s become a rallying cry for young people in the community to get out and do something good, fighting to preserve access to this beach we all care about,” he said. “It’s a great way to get everyone in the town engaged in something we all love.”

Thanks to Save Duxbury Beach, access has been restored.

“We’ve been able to close the gap between all parties involved and bring everyone to the table,” Marshall said. “It’s really brought about a lot of change.”

For more information on Marshall’s experience with Cape Cod Oyster Company, please visit capeoysters.com/team/andrew-marshall. To learn more about his nonprofit work with Save Duxbury Beach, visit saveduxburybeach.org