Center for Produce Safety Announces 2023–24 Board Leaders; Joe Pezzini Shares
WOODLAND, CA - Please give a warm welcome to this year’s Center for Produce Safety’s (CPS) new Board of Directors! CPS recently brought together its 2023–2024 directors at the group’s recent virtual meeting, welcoming three new directors and seven returning ones, as the board bid a fond farewell to three longtime directors.
“Year in, year out, these hardworking, visionary leaders ensure that Center for Produce Safety stays laser-focused on our mission: fund science, find solutions, fuel change,” said Board Chair Joe Pezzini, Senior Director of Ag Operations of Taylor Farms. “I thank them all for generously giving their time and resources to support CPS.”
Joining Pezzini as 2023–2024 CPS board officers are Secretary Bret Erickson of Little Bear Produce, Treasurer Mark Powers of Northwest Horticultural Council, and past chair Vic Smith of JV Smith Companies. The board’s Executive Committee includes the four officers, as well as Natalie Dyenson of International Fresh Produce Association and Dave Murray of Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce/Good Farms.
As noted in the release, three leaders joined CPS’s board for the first time:
- Larry Kohl of Retail Business Services
- Carter McEntire of southeastern fresh-produce processor McEntire Produce
- Michael Taylor, Esq., Board Member Emeritus of the nonprofit STOP Foodborne Illness, and former Food and Drug Administration Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Medicine
Directors serve three-year terms. The five board members that were re-elected along with Pezzini to new terms are:
- Jim Lugg, industry consultant
- Mark Powers
- Dave Puglia, Western Growers
- Tim Riley, The Giumarra Companies
- Michael Spinazzola, DRS International
Pezzini recognized two retiring board members for their long-time service:
- HMC’s Steve Kenfield
- Martha Roberts, food safety and ag policy consultant and former Deputy Commissioner of Florida’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Pezzini also thanked IFPA’s Max Teplitski for his prior service on the CPS board as he began his second year as board chair. The Chair also reported he plans to continue to expand and hone CPS’s work to transfer research learnings, starting with its annual Research Symposium.
“Our mission statement starts with ‘fund science, fund solutions.’ It ends very intentionally with the words ‘fuel change,’” said Pezzini. “Because the science we fund and the solutions we find only matter when we can inspire change that protects our consumers and our industry.”
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Welcome to the new 2023–2024 board, and we thank everyone for their service to our industry!
