OXNARD, Calif. – Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) (“Mission” or the “Company”), the world leader in sourcing, producing, and distributing fresh Hass avocados, with additional offerings in mangos, today announces the promotion of Denise Junqueiro to Vice President of Marketing and Communications, reporting to Steve Barnard, Chief Executive Officer and Founder. Junqueiro will drive Mission’s global marketing plans in concert with the executive committee and continue to play a pivotal role in Mission’s growth by directing the Mission Produce brand, media relations, global communications, and consumer and trade marketing.
“Denise’s vision, dedication, ability to exceed expectations, and can-do attitude is exactly the kind of leadership the company needs for the future,” said Barnard. “There is no doubt her new role will provide her increased influence in order to implement effective strategies to showcase the Mission difference.”
“I’m thrilled about this advancement to provide enhanced value to our stakeholders, company and brand,” said Junqueiro. “As Mission evolves, there are many opportunities to increasingly establish the company as an innovative leader in the industry and to maximize the impact of our consistent growth on our surrounding communities.”
Junqueiro started at Mission in 2016 as a customer marketing manager and has since risen through the ranks by leading a strong marketing team through comprehensive b-to-b and consumer marketing plans. Junqueiro was instrumental in the public relations and communications behind Mission’s journey to become a publicly traded company. She also spearheaded the development of innovative category enhancing strategies and programs including “Avocado Intel,” “Emeralds in the Rough,” “Minis, small but mighty,” “Jumbos, more to eat, more to love,” “Size Minded,” and “Ready.”
With more than a decade of marketing experience, Junqueiro serves on the California Avocado Commission Marketing Committee and the Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summitt Committee. She is a Class 42 Alumni of the California Ag Leadership Foundation’s fellowship program. Junqueiro also holds many achievements, including being a Produce Business Magazine 40-Under-Forty award recipient for the class of 2019, one of The Packer’s Women in Produce 2020 honorees and an awardee of the 2020 Fruitnet Media International Women in Produce.
About Mission Produce, Inc.:
Mission Produce is the global leader in the worldwide avocado business. Since 1983, Mission Produce has been sourcing, producing and distributing fresh Hass avocados, and as of 2021, fresh mangos, to retail, wholesale and foodservice customers in over 25 countries. The vertically integrated Company owns and operates four state-of-the-art packing facilities in key growing locations globally including California, Mexico & Peru and has additional sourcing capabilities in Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, New Zealand, & South Africa, which allow the company to provide a year-round supply of premium fruit. Mission’s global distribution network includes twelve forward distribution centers in North America, China & Europe that offer value-added services such as ripening, bagging, custom packing and logistical management. In addition, Mission owns over 11,000 acres globally, allowing for diversified sourcing and access to complementary growing seasons, while ensuring its customers receive the highest quality fruit possible. For more information, please visit www.missionproduce.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not historical in nature are forward-looking statements that, within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Words such as “may”, “will”, “expect”, “intend”, “plan”, “believe”, “seek”, “could”, “estimate”, “judgment”, “targeting”, “should”, “anticipate”, “goal” and variations of these words and similar expressions, are also intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release address a variety of subjects, including statements about our short-term and long-term assumptions, goals and targets, including our outlook for our fiscal year 2021 operating results. Many of these assumptions relate to matters that are beyond our control and changing rapidly. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurances that our expectations will be attained. Readers are cautioned that actual results could differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including: limitations regarding the supply of avocados, either through purchasing or growing; the loss of one or more of our largest customers or a reduction in the level of purchases by customers; doing business internationally, including Mexican and Peruvian economic, political and/or societal conditions; fluctuations in market prices of avocados; increasing competition; inherent farming risks; variations in operating results due to the seasonality of the business; general economic conditions; the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; increases in costs of commodities or other products used in our business; food safety events and recalls of our products; changes to USDA and FDA regulations, U.S. trade policy, and/or tariff and import/export regulations; restrictions due to health and safety laws; significant costs associated with compliance with environmental laws and regulations; acquisitions of other businesses; the ability of our infrastructure to handle our business needs; supply chain optimization failures or disruptions; disruption to the supply of reliable and cost-effective transportation; loss of key personnel and an adequate labor supply; information system security risks, data protection breaches and systems integration issues; changes in privacy and/or information security laws, policies and/or contractual arrangements; failure to maintain or protect our brand; changes in tax rates or international tax legislation; the viability of an active, liquid, and orderly market for our common stock; volatility in the trading price of our common stock; failure to meet continued Nasdaq listing requirements; concentration of control in our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders over matters submitted to stockholders for approval; limited sources of capital appreciation; the sale into the market of restricted shares; reduced disclosure requirements due to our emerging growth company status; significant costs associated with being a public company and the allocation of significant management resources thereto; reliance on analyst reports; failure to maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting; restrictions on takeover attempts in our charter documents and under Delaware law; and the selection of Delaware as the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders; and other risks and factors discussed from time to time in our Annual and Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
You can obtain copies of our SEC filings on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Corporation does not intend to, nor does it assume any obligation to, update or supplement any forward-looking statements after the date hereof to reflect actual results or future events or circumstances.
