United Fresh Announces Nominations For New Board Officers And Directors For 2016-2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. – United Fresh Immediate Past Chairman Ron Carkoski, Four Seasons Family of Companies, has announced the slate of new officers and directors nominated to serve on the United Fresh Produce Association Board of Directors, effective at its April 27, 2016 meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Ascending to Chairman of the Board is Tony Freytag, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, for Crunch Pak, in Cashmere, Washington. Tony currently serves as Chairman?Elect of the Board.  Tony and his two partners started Crunch Pak with an idea for creating healthy snacking by preserving fresh?cut apples that he tested in his home kitchen. Originally from Austin, Texas, Tony attended the University of Texas. His professional career in produce began with Naumes, Inc., of Medford, Oregon in 1997 where the idea of sliced apples was first introduced. Tony has been named one of the fresh produce industry’s top 25 most influential leaders by The Packer magazine, and in 2014 was recognized as The Packer’s Man of the Year.  He joined the United Fresh Board in 2011, and served as the Chairman of the Fresh?Cut Processor Board.  

Nominated as Chairman?Elect is Susan Reimer?Sifford, Director, Produce & Bakery Purchasing & Distribution for Darden, in Orlando, Florida. Susan is responsible for oversight of procurement, distribution and quality assurance of all fruit and vegetable items for Darden's popular concepts such as Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, The Capital Grille, Eddie V’s and Yard House restaurants. She began her career at Darden in 2005 as Director of Restaurant Distribution Services. In 2007 and 2013 she received the coveted Darden Joe Lee Brilliance Award for “Excellence in Being of Service” to Darden’s Restaurants. Susan joined the United Fresh Board in 2014, most recently serving as the Vice Chair of the Retail?Foodservice Board. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Food and Nutrition and a Master’s Degree in Dietetics from Illinois State University.  Susan will assume the Chairmanship of United Fresh in 2017.

Lisa Strube, Director of Finance & Administration for Strube Celery & Vegetable Company, will continue to serve in an ongoing term as Secretary?Treasurer.

Current United Chairman of the Board Brian W. Kocher, Chief Operating Officer, Castellini Company LLC, will move to the position of Immediate Past Chairman and remain on the Board and the Executive Committee.

The following industry leaders have been nominated to serve as new members of the United Fresh Board for a two?year term beginning April 2016:

Shannon Arias is the Program Lead for Distribution, Chick?fil?A, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia. She is responsible for all food and paper distribution, including approximately 125 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables each year to the company’s 2,000 restaurant locations. She joined the company in 2005 and moved to the corporate headquarters in 2010 as the Produce Distribution Manager where she was responsible for the introduction of Chick?fil?A’s Optional Managed Produce Program that offered owner/operators flexibility in selecting their distribution partner; it is now an operating standard across the company. Shannon is a graduate of United’s Produce Executive Development Program at Cornell University and she earned a degree in Business Management from University of West Georgia. She became a member of the United Fresh Retail?Foodservice Board in 2014 and has been nominated to become the board’s Vice Chair.

Tom Brugato, President/Chief Operating Officer, Pacific Coast Fruit Company in Portland, Oregon has well over 20 years of experience in the produce industry. He began his career working for his father in their family grocery store. After graduating from Oregon State University he went on to work for United Grocers, now Unified Grocers. In 1992, he joined his wife’s family produce company.  He’s held different roles throughout the company including broker, buyer, salesperson, director of the fresh cut department, then on to management. Three years ago he became President of the company. Tom serves on different industry committees and boards, and currently serves on the United Fresh Wholesaler?Distributor Board.  

Danny Dumas, Vice President N.A. Sales & Product Management, Del Monte Fresh Produce, N.A., Inc., Coral Gables, Florida was born and raised in Canada where he studied in both English and French. Upon completion of college, he started his career in produce at Dole Fresh Fruit Company where he held various positions. In 1997, he joined Montreal produce wholesaler, J.B. Laverdure as a produce buyer and seller. A year later, Danny joined Del Monte Fresh Produce to manage its first and only Canadian office as District Sales Manager. Since that time, he has held various positions with Del Monte Fresh including Vice President of Operations for Europe and Africa at its European offices in Monte Carlo, Monaco. In 2014, returned to Florida to assume his current position.  

Sarah Frey?Talley is the President and CEO, Frey Farms and Founder of Tsamma™ Juice in Keenes, Illinois. Frey Farms is a Certified Woman?Owned Business that specializes in the growing, packing, and shipping of fresh market produce, with operations in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois and West Virginia. Frey Farms’ top commodities include watermelon, cantaloupes, and pumpkins. Sarah also oversees the production and distribution of Tsamma™ Juice. Sarah currently serves on United’s Government Relations Council and the Grower?Shipper Board, as well as the National Watermelon Promotion Board. She a member of the Illinois Agriculture Coalition committee assembled by the Governor of Illinois Bruce Rauner, and Senator Mark Kirk's Ag advisory committee. Sarah was recognized by the PMA Foundation as one of “Eight Women Leaders You Should Know.”   

John Jackson, Chief Executive Officer, Beachside Produce, LLC, Guadalupe, California took on his current role in 2003. He previously held the position of Chief Financial Officer and Controller for Apio. Prior to joining the fresh produce industry, John spent 13 years working for Coca?Cola, serving in various finance positions.  He holds a degree in accounting from Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, completed post graduate work at the University of Memphis and holds a CPA certificate. John is a graduate of United’s Leadership Class 11, and recently served as Chairman of the Leadership Alumni Organization. Today he serves on United’s Grower Shipper Board and Supply Chain Council, as well as the Grower?Shipper Association of Central California Board, LGMA Board and Lettuce Research Board. John has been nominated as Vice Chairman of the Grower?Shipper Board.

Douglas Kling is the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Village Farms International, Inc. in Heathrow, Florida. He has served in this position since April 2010, starting with the company in March 2008 as Vice President Sales, Marketing, and Logistics. His previous professional experience includes senior management roles with Cadbury Schweppes, Johanna Foods, Life Savers Inc. and other fortune 500 consumer products companies, as well as institutional associations and government agencies on a national and global level. He was recently named by the Packer as one of the Top 25 leaders in the produce industry. Doug is currently on the United Fresh Government Relations Council and United’s Produce Marketing & Management Council. He holds a degree in Behavioral Science from Rollins College, completed MBA course work in marketing management at Pace University, post graduate work in Strategic Marketing at the Harvard Graduate School of Business, along with post graduate work in negotiation at Harvard Law School.  

Mark Klompien, President of the Idaho Grower Shippers Association, Idaho Falls, Idaho, has spent virtually his entire life in potatoes, from growing up and working on his father’s seed potato farm in Montana to his extensive career in the potato processing industry. Before joining the association in 2012, he was the Vice President of Supply Chain Management at Idahoan Foods and prior to that worked for Basic American Foods and Lamb Weston Inc. Mark currently serves on United’s Government Relations Council and Supply Chain Logistics Council, as well as the University of Idaho College of Agriculture Advisory Board and the Board of the Northwest Food Processors Association.  Mark obtained his Professional Engineer’s license in 1995, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering from Montana State University and completed the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program. Mark has been nominated as Chairman of the Supply Chain Logistics Council.

John McGuire is Vice President, Fresh Produce for Lineage Logistics in Irvine, California.  He oversees business development of Lineage’s 3PL services in the fresh produce industry, leveraging the company’s nationwide network of refrigerated warehouse facilities. John started his career in the fresh produce industry in 2006 after joining his family’s refrigerated warehouse & repack business, Loop Cold Storage, based in McAllen, Texas. Lineage Logistics acquired Loop Cold Storage in 2014.  John has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Southern Methodist University and a Master’s degree from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

David McInerney is the Co?Founder and Chief Food Adventurer for FreshDirect in New York, New York.   David’s first 15 years in food were as a chef alongside top restaurateurs, including the late Bernard Loiseau in Burgundy, and David Bouley in New York. Now, as co?founder and “Chief Food Adventurer” for FreshDirect, he is charged with sourcing the best?tasting, freshest, and highest?quality foods from around the world. David and his team spend more than half the year travelling around the globe to learn, investigate, explore and taste fresh food. Through his food sourcing travels – both domestic and international – he has developed deep relationships with what he calls the “Dream Team” of food producers, including fresh produce growers, cattle ranchers, fisherman, olive oil producers and more.  

Ken Moynihan is the Chief Technology Officer for Compac in Visalia, California.  He first started working in produce as a university student, investigating algorithms for what became the world’s first electronic quality sorter of kiwifruit. Since then he has spent his career in the post?harvest technology industry, primarily focused on Computer Vision systems for automatic inspection and sorting of fresh produce. Spending about one?third of his time within post?harvest facilities around the world, he has a deep understanding of the unique challenges of fresh produce and a keen vision of where the industry is headed.   In his current role as CTO, he is responsible for the company’s long term technology strategy and developing the vision of what future post?harvest supply chains look like as the industry enters a phase of rapid transformation. Ken holds an honors degree in philosophy and a PhD in Signal Processing from the University of Auckland.

Brent Scattini, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Gold Coast Packing, Inc., Santa Maria, California is a 26?year veteran of the produce industry. Hailing from Salinas, he comes from a local farming family that has been in the business for five generations. Brent’s past work experience includes serving as the Marketing Director for the California Tomato Commission and 12 years as the Western Director of Sales for Grimmway Farms. Now at Gold Coast Packing, he has been in his current role for the last six years. Brent serves on the United Fresh?Cut Processor Board, PMA Foodservice Committee and has sat on numerous boards and committees throughout his career. Brent has been nominated as Vice Chairman of the Fresh?Cut Processor Board.

In addition to these candidates, current Board Member Bob Meek, Utah Onions, has been nominated to the position of Chairman of the Grower?Shipper Board.

The following officers of Market Segment Boards and Councils will continue their service on the Board:  

•  Chairman, Fresh Start Foundation ? Jim Lemke, Robinson Fresh
•  Chairman, Fresh?Cut Board ? Bob Swartwout, Direct Advantage, LLC
•  Chairman, Wholesaler Distributor Board ? Bob Kirch, Caito Foods Service
•  Vice Chairman, Wholesaler?Distributor Board ? Jackie Caplan Wiggins, Frieda's, Inc.
•  Chairman, Retail?Foodservice Board ? Greg Corrigan, Raley’s Family of Fine Stores
•  Chairman, Finance and Business Management Council ? Jason Pounds, Hardie’s Fresh Foods
•  Chairman, Food Safety & Technology Council ? Suresh DeCosta, Lipman
•  Chairman, Government Relations Council ? Charles Wingard, Walter P. Rawl & Sons, Inc.
•  Chairman, Produce Marketing & Merchandising Council ? Cindy Jewell, California Giant Berry Farms

The following At?Large Board Members will continue their service on the Board: Brian Antle, Tanimura & Antle; Bill Brim, Lewis Taylor Farms; Mark Campion, Taylor Farms, Inc.; Bret Erickson, Texas International Produce Association; Rudi Groppe, Heinzen Manufacturing International; Fred Heptinstall, Fresh Market Strategies, LLC; Steve Jarzombek, Roundy's Supermarkets, Inc.; Bob Mast, CMI; Paul Mastronardi, Mastronardi Produce, Ltd.; Michael Muzyk, Baldor Specialty Foods, Inc.; Mike Orf, Hy?Vee, Inc.; Gordon Robertson, Sun World International, LLC; Howard Roeder, Dole Fresh Vegetables, Inc.; Mike Spinazzola, Diversified Restaurant Systems; Mario Steta, Driscoll's; Dorn Wenninger, Walmart; and Ross Wileman, Mission Produce, Inc.

“The strength of our association stems from the strong and diverse leadership on the United Fresh Board of Directors,” said United President and CEO Tom Stenzel. “These men and women who have been nominated to serve on our Board of Directors, along with our returning Board members and new officers, makes a tremendously talented slate of industry leaders. Their collective insights and expertise will ensure we have a powerful voice representing our membership and our industry.”  

Board members concluding service at the April 2016 meeting include: Immediate Past Chairman Ron Carkoski, Four Seasons Family of Companies; Bill Brooks, Westlake Produce Company; Jim Catchot, Renaissance Food Group, who served as Vice Chairman, Fresh?Cut Processor Board; Tom Deardorff, Deardorff Family Farms, who served as Chairman, Grower?Shipper Board; Aaron Fox, Fox Packaging, Kenny Lund, Allen Lund Company, Inc., who served as Chairman, Supply Chain Logistics Council; Carissa Mace, Fresh Produce & Floral Council; Lisa McNeece Miceli, Grimmway Enterprises Inc.; Bob Morrissey, National Watermelon Association, Inc.; and Rob Schrick, Bayer Crop Science.  

“I’d like to extend a personal thanks to all of the Board members who are concluding their service at this upcoming meeting, including our Immediate Past Chairman Ron Carkoski who provided exceptional leadership to our organization for the past six years,” said Stenzel. “With an industry as diverse and complex as ours, we are grateful to the dedicated members of our board who have helped navigate the challenges in our industry and further advance our organization.  We appreciate the time and service they have dedicated to United and the industry.   

“I’d also like to thank Ron and Board Development Committee members Brian Kocher, Tony Freytag, Lisa Strube, Bob Meek, Jim Catchot, Jackie Caplan Wiggins, and Susan Reimer Sifford for their work this year in nominating an impressive slate of officers and Board members. Their job was to help develop a strong and representative leadership on the Board for the coming years to drive our association forward, and I commend them for developing this slate of impressive industry leaders,” Stenzel said.

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About United Fresh Produce Association

Founded in 1904, the United Fresh Produce Association brings together companies across every segment of the fresh produce supply chain, including growers, shippers, fresh?cut processors, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, foodservice operators, industry suppliers and allied associations. We empower industry leaders to shape sound government policy. We deliver the resources and expertise companies need to succeed in managing complex business and technical issues. We provide the training and development individuals need to advance their careers in produce. Through these endeavors, we unite our industry with a common purpose – to build long?term value for our members and grow produce consumption.

Source: United Fresh Produce Association