Lidl US appoints new president, and more appointments
ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS: Fresh Produce Association of the Americas (FPAA), Nogales, Ariz.
After completing his 2-year term, Gonzalo Avila, chief executive officer of Malena Produce, passed on the chairman position to Scott Vandervoet, chairman of Vandervoet & Associates. Also elected was Leonardo Tarriba, general manager of Farmers Best International, as chairman-elect. FPAA members also elected eight distributor directors, including Bobby Astengo, member director of Peppers Plus; Alejandro Canelos, owner of Apache Produce LLC; Jaime Chamberlain, president of J-C Distributing Inc.; Martin Ley, Shipley Sales; Enrique Gracia, president of Flavor King Farms; Bert Monteverde, vice president and director of sales, H.M. Distributing; Jose Antonio Martinez, financial manager, Divine Flavor LLC; and Matt Mandel, vice president of operations for Sunfed. Sabrina Hallman, president and CEO of Sierra Seed Co. LLP, and Chuck Thomas, owner and president of Thomas Produce, were elected to a 1-year term as associate member director. FPAA members also re-elected Jimmy Munguia, sales manager of Del Campo Supreme, as chairman of the FPAA tomato division. Chris Ciruli, chief operations officer of Ciruli Brothers, continues as chairman of the FPAA mango division. And, John Pandol, director of special projects for Pandol Brothers, continues as chairman of the FPAA grape division.