CMI announces appointment of Patella to marketing team
CMI announces appointment of Patella to marketing team
Columbia Marketing International, based in Wenatchee, WA, announced the appointment of Don Patella to its marketing team. Patella, who will telecommute from his home in Arizona, will manage key retail accounts, developing timely promotions and provide tools to assist his customer's in strengthening their produce categories.
With over 20 years of retail experience at Kroger, Patella has expertise in the area of growing profitable produce returns and will help CMI advance customer initiatives.
Patella has held various management and supervisory positions within Kroger and most recently was a regional merchandiser covering four Kroger divisions spanning across 14 states with the primary focus on local suppliers, products and marketing across all departments within the store.
"Understanding the dynamics of optimal selling performance is critical to both our growers and our retail customers" Steve Lutz, vice president of marketing for CMI, said in a press release. "We're excited about Don joining our team because he brings nearly 25 years of retail experience to CMI. We're confident that he will be a terrific resource in the years to come in working closely with our customers to identify strategies and opportunities to drive sales of CMI apples, pears and cherries."