Al Finch, president of Florida Classic Growers Inc. in Dundee, FL, died Tuesday, June 21, at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. He was 55 years old. He had first been diagnosed with cancer in 2014.

Gene Allison Finch Jr. was born Aug. 2, 1966, in Lakeland, FL. He graduated from Lakeland High School in 1984, then attended Stetson University in Deland, FL, where he earned a bachelor of business administration degree in 1988. He minored in history, and remained "an avid history lover" for the rest of his life, noted his wife, Melissa.

Immediately after college, he worked in the construction

SpartanNash has promoted Jean-Paul Calabio to the position of vice president, chief information security officer.

In his new role, Calabio is in charge of information security strategy, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and continually enhancing the company's security posture. In his time at SpartanNash, Calabio formalized SpartanNash's security incident response process, created a governance risk and compliance function to focus on high-risk priorities, expanded vendor risk management capabilities ensuring vendors meet high security requirements, and built an information

Charles D. Pigliacelli, a member of the John Vena Inc. leadership team from 1985 to 2008 and a long-time Philadelphia produce veteran, died June 17 at his home in Ocean View, DE.

Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Pigliacelli was a graduate of St. Joseph’s University with a degree in accounting. He began his career in the produce industry during the 1970s at the Philadelphia Food Distribution Center, first at M. Levin & Co. before moving to Ralph D. Hughes Inc. He landed at JVI in 1985.

For the next 23 years, Mr. Pigliacelli and his magnetic personality helped establish JVI as one of the strongest

Duda Farm Fresh Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary of Duda and a leading grower of fresh vegetables and citrus, announced the company’s president, Samuel (Sammy) Duda, has been named CEO-elect of Duda. This decision marks the culmination of a nearly year-long process led by Duda’s board of directors with support from an international leadership advisory firm.

Sammy will continue to fulfill the responsibilities of his existing role until transitioning to CEO of Duda on Jan. 1, 2023. At that time, his role will shift to one of oversight for Duda Farm Fresh Foods as he begins guiding the family

John Catsimatidis, chairman and CEO of Red Apple Group and subsidiary Gristedes and D’Agostino Supermarkets, announced that Joe Parisi has been named president of Gristedes and D’Agostino’s, Manhattan’s largest chain of supermarkets.

Parisi will now hold the title of president and chief operating officer of the 30-location New York City supermarket chain, bringing with him four decades of experience in the food and grocery industry.  

Parisi joined Gristedes and D’Agostino in 2021 after more than three decades with Kings Food Markets Inc./Balducci’s KB US Holdings Cos. in New Jersey. Until

The California Walnut Board and the California Walnut Commission named Robert Verloop executive director and CEO, effective July 11. The CWB and CWC represent over 4,500 California walnut growers and nearly 90 handlers, producing over 1.4 billion pounds of walnuts in 2021 that ship to more than 50 countries around the world.

“We are excited to bring onboard an experienced strategic leader such as Robert, his background will well serve the California walnut industry. He has the unique experience of leadership roles as a grower/shipper of highly perishable produce and in commodity organizations