Leading US based exporter, The Fresh Connection, has named David Nelley as Chief Commercial Officer, a newly created role. This role forms a senior leadership team with Hank Miller (CEO) and Will Mehrten (President) to capitalize on synergies and growth opportunities.
David takes the new role after serving as VP Retail Sales at Apeel Sciences for the past three years, and prior to that was a VP of Categories and Exports at The Oppenheimer Group.
“We are excited to have someone of David’s caliber and international produce experience joining The Fresh Connection family” said Hank Miller, President. “His experience in international produce will play a significant role in achieving the next stage of our growth.”
The Fresh Connection is a distributor and exporter of a wide range of fresh fruits and vegetables to customers in more than 35 countries, serving its customers from offices in four key global regions. In his new role, David will build relationships to strengthen new and existing business opportunities with growers and suppliers around the world.
“I am really energized to join the leadership team at The Fresh Connection and feel that it is a great fit with my experience in international produce and leans into familiarity I have with the Total Produce family of companies” Nelley said. “Growing up on a farm in New Zealand, my career has focused on taking fresh produce from sources of quality and abundance to meet and expand demand in the market. Recently I have heard from the largest retailers in the world that they require surety of quality supply to meet growth plans and that supply chain expertise has never been more vital to their business than it is now. This leadership role at The Fresh Connection allows me to make a meaningful contribution to both as we strive to feed a the world”.
Nelley has over 29 years of sales and marketing experience within the produce industry, based in Wellington, Seattle, Singapore, Vancouver and will be splitting his time between The Fresh Connection’s offices in Lafayette and Santa Barbara in the new role. David and Will be at Frut Logistica in Berlin, Germany April 5-8 as the world gathers at the largest produce show in the world.
