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Packer 25

The Packer 25 highlights individuals who are the standard-bearers for leadership in the produce industry

2009

Anthony Barbieri

By Tom Karst

Anthony Barbieri has a “count me in” type of passion for the fresh produce industry.

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Pal Brooks

By Doug Ohlemeier

Weathering storms of both the natural and the business variety for nearly a half a century, change is not something Neal Palmer “Pal” Brooks fears.

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Chris Ciruli, 37, is no stranger in the fresh produce industry. “It has been a family-run business,” said Ciruli, partner in Ciruli Bros. LLC, Nogales, Ariz. “I have been coming to the office with Dad since I was a small kid.”

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Brendan Comito

By Bob Luder

Brendan Comito had an eventful 2008, although it was the kind of year he’d rather not repeat … especially the summer months.

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Dan Crowley

By Dawn Withers

It’s the unpredictable nature of the produce business that makes Dan Crowley love his job. Crowley, 54, is sales manager for Well-Pict, Inc., Wastonville, Calif., an expanding berry grower that produces 20 million trays of berries annually.

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Scott Danner

By Bob Luder

As Scott Danner walks, spring constantly in his step, through the storage and processing at Kansas City, Kan.-based Liberty Fruit Co., he never takes too many steps before stopping to greet an employee, shake his hand, and offer an encouraging pat on the back.

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Paul DiMare

By Doug Ohlemeier

Leading the second and third generations of family involvement in one of the nation’s largest tomato growing and repacking operations, Paul DiMare, president of the DiMare Co., Homestead, Fla., has a long list of community and industry awards and contributions.

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Bob Gray

By Dawn Withers

Bob Gray, the Salinas, Calif.-based chief executive officer for Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Oviedo, Fla., said that in light of the tumultuous business climate this year, his focus for the company is on customer service.

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Cathy Green

By Ashley Bentley

A strong commitment to Food Lion customers’ safety and security led Cathy Green to get more involved in the produce industry, where she is leading the way in the traceability initiative.

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Grant Hunt

By Don Schrack

Grant Hunt is the third member of his family to be president of Grant J. Hunt Co., Oakland, Calif., now in its 75th year of its distinctive blend of tradition and change.

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Jin Ju Wilder

By Pamela Riemenschneider

Jin Ju Wilder thrives in an ever-changing environment. A former “Army brat,” the president of Los Angeles-based Coast Produce is constantly on the move.

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Bob Keeney

By Tom Karst

Bob Keeney first saw his career intersect with the fresh produce industry in 1977 when he was hired by the then-United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association in Alexandria, Va.

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Tom Lovelace

By Tom Karst

Tom Lovelace has been over and around nearly all aspects of the produce industry. In his current position as chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based United Fresh Produce Association, Lovelace can draw on his varied experience.

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Paul Mastronardi

By Andy Nelson

When Pat Calabretta, senior director of merchandising and purchasing for Stellarton, Nova Scotia-based retail giant Sobeys Inc., asked his division vice president and senior vice president to attend a meeting with Paul Mastronardi, Calabretta said they gave him “that look.” Fortunately for Calabretta, their worries were unfounded.

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Mike McGee

By Andy Nelson

The nation may be mired in a recession, but Mike McGee is full of hope. Working in produce, McGee might say, how could you not be?

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Kevin Moffitt

By Tom Karst

Kevin Moffitt got his first taste of the produce industry soon after he graduated from the University of Oregon and he has not gotten his fill of it more than 25 years later. “It gets in your blood,” Moffitt said, reflecting on the genuine people who have given meaning to his work promoting pears.

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Joel Nelsen

By Greg Johnson

Successful lobbying starts with good listening. Joel Nelsen, president of the California Citrus Mutual, Exeter, for the past 27 years, knows
a grower’s message resonates more with a legislator than a commodity board leader.

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Jay Pack

By Pamela Riemenschneider

A banker by trade, Jay Pack originally was reluctant to work in produce. His father-in-law, former Standard Fruit & Vegetable Co. Inc. chairman Martin Rutchik, was persuasive enough to get him on board with the company, and Pack has never looked back.

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Miles Reiter

By Don Schrack

Miles Reiter was inoculated with a passion for the strawberry industry at birth. His grandfather was a strawberry grower and his father was among the founders of Driscoll Strawberry Associates Inc., Watsonville, Calif.

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Steffanie Smith

By Tom Karst

Despite the ugly U.S. recession — or perhaps because of the recession — Steffanie Smith believes it is a good time to be in the produce business.
“I think it is a great time to be in the produce business,” she said. “Food is a good place to be in an economy like this.”

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Bob Spencer

By Doug Ohlemeier

During the dark days of summer 2008’s Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak, the tomato industry needed a strong voice to explain what it was doing to prevent contamination as the federal government was pointing its fingers at the Sunshine State’s tomato growers.
While the industry had its association people talk to news media, Bob Spencer, vice president and sales manager of West Coast Tomato Inc., Palmetto, Fla., saw the need for growers to speak up and properly defend the industry’s growing practices and safety record.

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Terry Vorhees

By Doug Ohlemeier

When sellers need to connect with buyers, the challenge is getting the two groups together in a comfortable and relaxed setting.
Terry Vorhees, co-founder and executive director of the Southeast Produce Council, Riverview, Fla., has successfully brought the two sides together through the group’s 6-year-old Southern Exposure retail and foodservice conference and exposition, which enjoyed record attendance March 5-7 in Tampa, Fla.

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Dave Watson

By Dan Galbraith

Dave Watson, 53, blew into the Windy City in November 2004 and has proven himself a breath of fresh air, taking an already-respected family business operation, Strube Celery & Vegetable Co., to a new level.

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Lynn Wilcox

By Jose Escobedo

Lynn Wilcox, 53, has been around potatoes most of his life, and perhaps that lifelong tie to the industry has shaped his leadership philosophy as much as anything.

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Gary Wishnatzki

By Doug Ohlemeier

Gary Wishnatzki demonstrates his concern for the workers who pick his berries and vegetables by supporting the social needs of the state’s migrant workers.

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