A Southern California business leader who has guided global operations, John Blazevich oversees the food processor and manufacturer ViVA! Food Group. Areas of focus for John Blazevich and his team include aquacultured seafood sourced from Southeast Asian farmers and regional wines & olive oil from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Serving as CEO and president of Contessa Premium Foods, Inc., from 1984 to 2011, Mr. Blazevich grew the multimillion-dollar international food company into an enterprise that achieved over $4 billion in total revenue. The Contessa brand emerged as “America’s favorite shrimp,” with other areas of innovation including the first ever “stir-fry” vegetable products marketed in the United States.

Over the years, Mr. Blazevich’s firm created a number of successful private label products manufactured for retail and food service clients such as Safeway, Costco, and Trader Joe’s and Wal-Mart. He held numerous international patents, copyrights and trademarks. His patented “cooked and blanched” frozen shrimp offering was distributed to hospitality clients nationwide, including Hyatt Hotels and Marriott Hotels International.

John Blazevich maintains a strong philanthropic presence that includes raising significant funds for children and women victims of conflict in the former Yugoslavia. John also provided the initial monies for the down payment of Croatia's 1st embassy in the United States of America located on "Embassy Row" in Washington, DC.