Cold food industry undergoes slew of personnel changes
ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS:
Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (CFVGA), Denver, Colo.
Robert Sakata, president of Sakata Farms, was re-elected president; he has been president since 2014. Roger Mix of Mix Farms will serve as vice president, while Glenn Hirakata from Hirakata Farms will serve as secretary. Reid Fishering of Mountain Quality Sweet Corn was re-elected treasurer. David Asbury, owner of Rocky Mountain Pumpkin Ranch/Full Circle Farms, was elected to fill the term of resigning board member Jason Condon. Additional elected members include Grant Mattive of Worley Family Farms, and Jeni Lamb Rogers, associate at Holland and Hart LLP. Mattive, a mechanical engineer by training, also serves as president of the Colorado Certified Potato Growers Association. Lamb Rogers, an attorney, assists agriculture and food clients with regulatory compliance, including the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Re-elected for another 3-year term is Bruce Talbott, orchard and vineyard manager at Talbott Mountain Gold.
Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, Long Beach, Calif. Suzanne Plezia was promoted to senior director of the Engineering Bureau’s program delivery group. Plezia is the first woman to be chief harbor engineer of the Port of Long Beach. Plezia joined the Port of Long Beach in 1996 as an intern. A licensed civil engineer, she was named to her current position, director of construction management, in December 2014, and has worked in the design, program management and construction management divisions. In 2012, she guided the procurement process for the Gerald Desmond Bridge replacement contract, and managed construction for the recently completed Pier G Container Terminal Re-development project. Meanwhile, Tom Baldwin will oversee the port's capital improvement program, which includes dredging, wharf, terminal, building, railroad, bridge, safety, roadway and utility projects. Baldwin began working for the port in 2002, and was named assistant director of program management in January 2015. He specializes in leading large harbor development projects, including terminal renovations in use by tenants, such as the Middle Harbor Terminal Re-development program. Both appointments are effective April 29.
U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY), Tucker, Ga. Matthew Spencer was appointed director of human resources and safety programs, responsible for the strategic management of certain USPOULTRY technical services, including worker safety, human resources and employment law programs. Previously, Spencer was health safety manager at Smithfield Foods, where he was responsible for establishing safety practices and procedures, conducting comprehensive on-site OSHA and health wellness reviews, maintaining OSHA compliance at five Midwest harvesting/processing sites, etc. Prior to Smithfield Foods, he spent several years with other companies, including Exide Technologies, where he served as director of safety and compliance North America distribution, responsible for managing the environmental, health and safety department in addition to ensuring DOT, OSHA and EHS compliance at 78 locations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Spencer is replacing Paul Pressley, who is retiring in spring 2017. Pressley has been USPOULTRY’s executive vice president of industry programs since 2007, and previously served as director of risk management and insurance for Gold Kist, where he spent 26 years.