Effective January 1, 2024, Manuel Yzaga, the current CEO of Vanguard Peru, will become the new
CEO of The Vanguard International Group. Manuel joined the Vanguard team in 2017 and brings a
wealth of knowledge and experience to the Vanguard Group CEO position. Prior to joining the
Vanguard team, Manuel served as Sun World’s country representative and consultant in Peru and
was responsible for introducing Sun World’s proprietary varieties to Peruvian growers. Prior to Sun
World, Manuel himself was a table grape grower, shipper, and export sales and marketer in Ica,
Peru. At Vanguard Peru, Manuel has led the team to record breaking harvests and positioned the
company as a global grape leader. “Moreover, Manuel has led the implementation of our strategy
and operations in Peru, and his knowledge about all aspects of our business from farming to
operations to sales makes him the ideal person to take Vanguard with our vision to the next level,”
stated Craig.
Manuel is committed to the direction of the group and further added that “I have been closely and
carefully following Craig´s vision of our global business and our vertically integrated strategy,
understanding our markets, our partnerships, as well as the why and the how questions. We have
deployed a very potent vertically integrated strategy that we will continue to work, consolidating that
vision, with a multi-fruit strategy in Peru and in the future eventually moving to other geographies in
addition to our valued 3rd-party strategic partners. I have only words of gratitude to Craig, the board,
and all the Vanguard team members, here I commit we will continue to serve our customers with the
great quality service we have been known for the past thirty-three years”.
Dirk Winkelmann, the current President of Vanguard Direct, will also become the Group’s Chief
Commercial Officer and the President of Vanguard International USA. Dirk rejoined Vanguard in
2015, bringing with him 28 years of industry experience, 12 of which were previously at Vanguard.
About Vanguard
Founded in 1991, Vanguard International has been marketing and selling fresh fruits and vegetables
globally for over 32 years, operating offices in Chile, China, Indonesia, Peru, South Africa, Taiwan,
and the United States. www.vanguardteam.com
