ISSAQUAH, WA - For four decades, Craig Stauffer has served the produce industry as a leader, mentor, and friend. Now, he has announced his plans for retirement as Chief Executive Officer of Vanguard International Group, and Manuel Yzaga, the current CEO of Vanguard Peru, will be his successor. Dirk Winkelmann, the current President of Vanguard Direct, will also become the Group’s Chief Commercial Officer and the President of Vanguard International USA.

“I have been closely and carefully following Craig’s vision of our global business and our vertically integrated strategy, understanding our markets, and our partnerships, as well as the why and the how questions. We have deployed a very potent vertically integrated strategy that we will continue to work on, consolidating that vision, with a multi-fruit strategy in Peru and in the future, eventually moving to other geographies in addition to our valued third-party strategic partners,” said Yzaga. “I have only words of gratitude to Craig, the Board, and all the Vanguard team members, here I commit we will continue to serve our customers with the great-quality service we have been known for the past 33 years.”

Effective January 1, 2024, Yzaga will become the new CEO of the Vanguard International Group. He joined the Vanguard team in 2017 with a wealth of knowledge and experience.

Prior to joining the Vanguard team, Manuel served as Sun World’s country representative and consultant in Peru and was responsible for introducing Sun World’s proprietary varieties to Peruvian growers. Prior to Sun World, he was a table grape grower, shipper, and export sales and marketer in Ica, Peru.

Stauffer will officially retire from his day-to-day business activities on December 31, 2023, a release explained. He will then transition to a strategic role on the company’s Board of Directors.

“While I am retiring as the CEO of the Vanguard International Group, I will continue to be active and will be focusing my efforts at the board level on strategic initiatives. This decision was not an easy one for me because I love this industry, and I am very passionate about our business, and as everyone knows the people at the Vanguard group of companies are like family, but this is the optimal time to pass the torch to Manuel Yzaga, Dirk Winkelmann, and our global leadership team, and I’m excited to be able to continue working with them going forward and helping them in every way that I can. Moreover, Manuel has led the implementation of our strategy and operations in Peru, and his knowledge about all aspects of our business, from farming to operations to sales, makes him the ideal person to take Vanguard with our vision to the next level.”

Guy Kisling and Stauffer founded Vanguard in 1991 with a staff of two people and have since grown the company into a global business with 10 offices around the world and a team of high-performing leaders. During his time as CEO, Stauffer led the establishment of Vanguard Direct and Vanguard Peru.

To read more about this transition, click here.

Best wishes to Craig Stauffer, Manuel Yzaga, and Dirk Winkelmann as they start down these new paths.

Vanguard International