The Westlands Water District board certified the election for five members to its board of directors. Ryan Ferguson, a farmer for 20 years and the 2021-2022 board president, rejoined the board as a newly elected member. Four other individuals were reelected including: William Bourdeau, founder and CEO of Bourdeau Farms based in Coalinga; Jeff Fortune, a second generation Westlands farmer; Frank Coelho, a board member since 1991 and third generation Five Points region farmer; and Jim Anderson, a fifth-generation Westlands Water District farmer.
Patrick Criteser, former CEO of Tillamook County Creamery Association, has been tapped as the new CEO of Nature Fresh Farms. Company founder and owner Peter Quiring will transition to executive chairman of the board. John Ketler will remain president and assist with the leadership transition.
Teghpreet "Preet" Ahluwalia was named the new area director to support University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources programs in Colusa, Glenn, Butte, Yuba and Sutter counties. She will focus on offering expertise, partnerships and programs to benefit local food systems, community health and economic development.
Colorado farmer-owned cooperative ProEgg tapped Greg Bilobran as CEO. He was corporate controller at Rembrandt Foods, an Iowa-based egg processor. He also worked for Dean Foods.
Faith Mabry, communications director for Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., left her position after Valadao’s re-election. Mabry is now a speechwriter on the executive communications team at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
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Syngenta Group hired Alison Tudor-Ackroyd as head of digital and social media. She was director of international communications and managing newsroom editor at Alibaba Group.
BioWorks hired Curt Granger as business development manager for specialty agriculture. He will focus on expansion in specialty crops. Previously Granger was a contract consultant for trials to support expansion into California.
Fresh Del Monte hired Thomas Padilla as vice president of avocados international. He will report directly to Danny Dumas, senior vice president of sales, marketing and product management for North America. Padilla previously worked at Calavo Growers and Mission Produce in international sales and export sales positions.
Thomas PadillaPublix promoted Doug Stalbaum to vice president of finance effective Jan. 1. He has been with the company since 2019, most recently as vice president and controller. In the new position, Stalbaum will oversee the support of manufacturing and distribution.
David Hollinrake is the new CEO at Exacto. He previously worked for Syngenta for seven years, most recently as global head of strategy and portfolio management for Syngenta Seeds.
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers promoted Austin Gellings to senior director of agricultural services. He has been with the organization nearly five years, recently as a director.
National Oilseed Processors Association Executive Vice President of Government Affairs David Hovermale will retire at the end of the year. During more than 25 years with the trade organization, he was instrumental in helping address tariff and non-tariff trade barriers and furthering international trade agreements for the oilseed industry. More recently, he devoted time to addressing the 45Z tax credit. Previously, Hovermale worked for the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, International Affairs and Commodity Programs, Office of Congressional Relations and Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service.
Jason Johnson left his position as communications adviser on the House Natural Resources Committee Democratic staff. He is now a director and program lead at Purple Strategies.
The U.S. Grains Council hired Alicia Koch as director of global ethanol export development. Based in the council's D.C. headquarters, Koch will oversee development and execution of the global ethanol program's public affairs, strategic partnerships and program implementation. She was previously executive director at Pivot: Global Bioethanol Coalition.
WhiteMoon MgO hired Michael Zehr as a strategic adviser. He will advise the company on stakeholder engagement in Washington. Zehr is continuing board positions with EVelution Energy and Chilean Cobalt Corp, as well as serving as a partner at Capital City Ventures.
Exacto hired Lillian Magidow as director of product management and regulatory. She has worked as a consultant and has 13 years of experience working for Winfield United, recently as director of marketing and innovation.
Clifton R. Wharton Jr., former deputy secretary of state who began his illustrious career in agricultural development, died from cancer in New York Nov. 16. He was 98. His career began at the Agricultural Development Council and took him with Rockefeller family-led foundations to Latin America and Southeast Asia. He became chairman of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) under former President Gerald Ford and later was No. 2 at the State Department under former President Bill Clinton. He was the first African-American president of a major U.S. university, Michigan State, and chancellor of the 64-campus State University of New York system. In 1982 he became chairman of the Rockefeller Foundation. He also chaired the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC). Wharton received the President's Award on World Hunger in 1983.
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