The Organic Grower Summit presented by Western Growers and OPN will honor long-time organic grower Jeff Huckaby as the recipient of the fifth annual Grower of the Year Award. Huckaby, president and CEO of Grimmway Farms, was selected based on his ongoing commitment and dedication to excellence in organic production, organic industry leadership, and innovation.

The Grower of the Year Award, sponsored by AGCO, will be presented to Huckaby as part of the keynote presentation at the Organic Grower Summit Nov. 30–Dec. 1 in Monterey, CA. The Grower of the Year presentation is part of an extensive

Pacific Trellis Fruit, owner of the Dulcinea brand, has hired Jay Schneider as its East Coast head of sales.  Schneider will be responsible for the sales team leadership of the New Jersey sales office as well as driving business strategy.

Schneider is a well-known produce industry leader, bringing almost 40 years of experience leading sales teams at Acme Stores, Albertsons and Gorillas.

Most recently, Schneider held a leadership role at Gorillas, an online grocer, where he was the head of buying. He devoted over 38 years with Acme where he was the produce director for over 10 years

Grimmway Farms hired John Liu as its vice president of food safety. He joins the company with over 27 years of food-safety experience and a proven record as a senior food-safety leader.

In his role, Liu will be responsible for the development, oversight, implementation, and management of all facility and farming food-safety programs and compliance. He will work closely with the company's quality assurance and food-safety teams, ensuring Grimmway continues to meet the highest quality and food-safety standards.

"John's years of experience stewarding impactful food-safety programs, operations

Giorgio Fresh Co. has hired Bryan Shelton as its vice president of sales and marketing. Shelton will be responsible for sales team leadership, marketing and business strategy.

Shelton is a well-known CPG industry leader, bringing over 20 years of experience to the packaged food arena, leading sales teams at Kellogg and Pinnacle Foods and Del Monte Foods Inc.

Most recently, Shelton held a leadership role at Del Monte Foods Inc., where he was responsible for the sales organization in the West, overseeing sales strategy development and execution and leading innovation of new categories. 

Tanimura & Antle promoted two key sales team members. Anthony Mazzuca has been promoted to vice president of sales strategy and Steve Souza will now serve as director of product management.  Both promotions come as the next step in the company’s succession planning and as a result of both individuals’ years of service, industry expertise and contributions to the company.   

“I've had the fortune of working side by side with numerous employee owners who have greatly influenced my approach to business and decision making. Even in the most challenging of times, I've learned to glean the good. It

The Fresh Produce & Floral Council held its 16th annual Northern California Golf Tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at the Course at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, CA. The tournament boasted 144 players with four on-course demo stations. The first place team was Bob Borda, Erick Proffitt, Daniel Russell and Michael Antongiovanni of Grimmway Farms; the second place team featured Jeff Knight (Edge Sales + Retail Services), Mil Mijanovic (Safeway), Rich Thompson (Giumarra) and Geoff Ratto. (Ratto Bros.); and in third place was the team of Marvin Quebec (Quebec Distributing Co.), David Dudley (Sprouts