Unifying western citrus industry among Gargiulo's main accomplishments
Unifying western citrus industry among Gargiulo's main accomplishments
Jeff Gargiulo, president and chief executive officer of Sunkist Growers in Sherman Oaks, CA, has announced his plan to resign in June when his current contract expires.
The announcement was made Jan. 19 in a Sunkist press release which stated, "This will conclude a second stint of an initial three-year contract.
"Gargiulo assumed the leadership post at Sunkist when he joined the company in June 2001. During his tenure, he spearheaded the reorganization of several of the Sunkist divisions while turning the focus of the organization toward leveraging the 'Sunkist' brand," the release continued. "He helped develop strategies for global sourcing and diversified products, including the introduction of Sunkist's pre-cut fruit program and its berry marketing program."
Prior to joining Sunkist, Mr. Gargiulo had been "at one time one of the largest tomato growers in the world before he sold the company to Monsanto," the release stated.
The release quotes Mr. Gargiulo as saying, "Sunkist is a great organization with a fabulous brand name and history." He added that he is "looking forward to new opportunities both in the wine and produce businesses." Mr. Gargiulo is owner of Gargiulo Vineyards in Napa, CA.
David Krause, chairman of Sunkist's board of directors, said, "Jeff's leadership created a focus and energy on aligning Sunkist growers and packers with the changing demands of the marketplace - from the end consumer to key retail and foodservice customers. Jeff built a great management team and is leaving Sunkist in good hands."
Mr. Gargiulo was also "instrumental in the development of the California Citrus Growers Association to align the citrus industry in the West to grow the category," Mr. Krause said.
Charlie Matthews, president of California Citrus Growers Association, told The Produce News, "It was due in a large part to Jeff's leadership that CCGA was started, and it has been a good catalyst for the industry working together." Mr. Gargiulo's "foresight in building the [citrus] category, building demand for oranges, has been very positive," and is one of "a number of different areas" in which he has "demonstrated leadership," Mr. Matthews said.
Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual, an industry organization comprised primarily of non-Sunkist growers, said, "From my perspective, Jeff [has been] an asset in trying to achieve industrywide unity" in the effort to obtain "better revenues for our industry."
There is much competition among the growers and shippers in the industry, Mr. Nelsen said, but Mr. Gargiulo "was willing to work" with others in the industry on a information-exchange program under the auspices of CCGA "that has fostered much better results from a marketing perspective and really helped growers increase their per- acre revenue."
That was something Mutual had been working on "for a couple of years." Mr. Nelsen said. "After some months of discussions, while still retaining some skepticism as to whether it would work, [Mr. Gargiulo] said, 'Let's give it a chance,' and then he gave it his all," added Mr. Nelsen. The effort has been successful so far, and "hopefully we will have an equal level of success with [Mr. Gargiulo's] successor."
"There is no doubt in a remarkably short period of time, Jeff was able to impact this industry," Robert Verloop, vice president of marketing for Sunkist, told The Produce News.
Although a newcomer to the citrus industry, having come from the tomato industry, Mr. Gargiulo "was able to accomplish a tremendous amount of confidence building ... really shoring up an industry" that had been struggling for several years, Mr. Verloop said. "His passion for the grower's point of view was quickly evident." The industry "may still have challenges ahead of it, but it is in a much more cohesive and strategic position than it was before Jeff started. There is a lot to be said about someone coming new into an industry and being able to have that type of an impact so quickly."
Those achievements were "directly a result of his view on the leadership role that Sunkist has in the produce industry, and the citrus industry in particular," Mr. Verloop continued. "Since we represent in oranges 60 percent, in lemons 80 percent of the growers out of California, it is incumbent on whoever is in this position that they understand the broader industry implications of our decisions, and Jeff never missed that." Taking a broad view, "he was able to empower his management team to act on that and follow his lead and his direction. And he opened up a lot of avenues for us to be able to do different things. He was able to shift the company forward very, very quickly."
The full benefits to Sunkist and the citrus industry of Mr. Gargiulo's leadership "won't be seen probably for another couple of years as some of the new strategic directions that he has fostered start to take hold," Mr. Verloop added.
Mr. Gargiulo "has had great impact in refocusing Sunkist" to think not so much "as a producer organization but more in the terms of what is in the best interest of the consumer" and the customer, he said.
Mr. Gargiulo has "strongly supported a lot of sales promotions activities that have provided some innovative things in the industry," Mr. Verloop continued. He has also been "a very strong advocate of Sunkist bringing in fruit from other sources when we ourselves were not able to supply it because of seasonality, so that the whole issue of globalization became very important."
Mr. Gargiulo also moved Sunkist into the fresh-cut arena, Mr. Verloop noted. "In the very first meeting I had with him, that was identified as a strategic imperative -- that we had to get into fresh-cut fruit, with the understanding that we had a lot of technology issues to overcome, but he kept that moving forward."
Throughout the Sunkist organization, there are many "types of programs" that Mr. Gargiulo "had the vision to establish," Mr. Verloop said. "The pathway has been laid out. Now it is going to be up to the rest of the management team, and whoever succeeds him, to execute those programs." The citrus category had been languishing for decades, Mr. Verloop said.
"I think with Jeff coming in and making changes with Sunkist, and then with CCGA, Sunkist and the industry "will be harvesting" the benefits of those changes "for many years to come."
The announcement was made Jan. 19 in a Sunkist press release which stated, "This will conclude a second stint of an initial three-year contract.
"Gargiulo assumed the leadership post at Sunkist when he joined the company in June 2001. During his tenure, he spearheaded the reorganization of several of the Sunkist divisions while turning the focus of the organization toward leveraging the 'Sunkist' brand," the release continued. "He helped develop strategies for global sourcing and diversified products, including the introduction of Sunkist's pre-cut fruit program and its berry marketing program."
Prior to joining Sunkist, Mr. Gargiulo had been "at one time one of the largest tomato growers in the world before he sold the company to Monsanto," the release stated.
The release quotes Mr. Gargiulo as saying, "Sunkist is a great organization with a fabulous brand name and history." He added that he is "looking forward to new opportunities both in the wine and produce businesses." Mr. Gargiulo is owner of Gargiulo Vineyards in Napa, CA.
David Krause, chairman of Sunkist's board of directors, said, "Jeff's leadership created a focus and energy on aligning Sunkist growers and packers with the changing demands of the marketplace - from the end consumer to key retail and foodservice customers. Jeff built a great management team and is leaving Sunkist in good hands."
Mr. Gargiulo was also "instrumental in the development of the California Citrus Growers Association to align the citrus industry in the West to grow the category," Mr. Krause said.
Charlie Matthews, president of California Citrus Growers Association, told The Produce News, "It was due in a large part to Jeff's leadership that CCGA was started, and it has been a good catalyst for the industry working together." Mr. Gargiulo's "foresight in building the [citrus] category, building demand for oranges, has been very positive," and is one of "a number of different areas" in which he has "demonstrated leadership," Mr. Matthews said.
Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual, an industry organization comprised primarily of non-Sunkist growers, said, "From my perspective, Jeff [has been] an asset in trying to achieve industrywide unity" in the effort to obtain "better revenues for our industry."
There is much competition among the growers and shippers in the industry, Mr. Nelsen said, but Mr. Gargiulo "was willing to work" with others in the industry on a information-exchange program under the auspices of CCGA "that has fostered much better results from a marketing perspective and really helped growers increase their per- acre revenue."
That was something Mutual had been working on "for a couple of years." Mr. Nelsen said. "After some months of discussions, while still retaining some skepticism as to whether it would work, [Mr. Gargiulo] said, 'Let's give it a chance,' and then he gave it his all," added Mr. Nelsen. The effort has been successful so far, and "hopefully we will have an equal level of success with [Mr. Gargiulo's] successor."
"There is no doubt in a remarkably short period of time, Jeff was able to impact this industry," Robert Verloop, vice president of marketing for Sunkist, told The Produce News.
Although a newcomer to the citrus industry, having come from the tomato industry, Mr. Gargiulo "was able to accomplish a tremendous amount of confidence building ... really shoring up an industry" that had been struggling for several years, Mr. Verloop said. "His passion for the grower's point of view was quickly evident." The industry "may still have challenges ahead of it, but it is in a much more cohesive and strategic position than it was before Jeff started. There is a lot to be said about someone coming new into an industry and being able to have that type of an impact so quickly."
Those achievements were "directly a result of his view on the leadership role that Sunkist has in the produce industry, and the citrus industry in particular," Mr. Verloop continued. "Since we represent in oranges 60 percent, in lemons 80 percent of the growers out of California, it is incumbent on whoever is in this position that they understand the broader industry implications of our decisions, and Jeff never missed that." Taking a broad view, "he was able to empower his management team to act on that and follow his lead and his direction. And he opened up a lot of avenues for us to be able to do different things. He was able to shift the company forward very, very quickly."
The full benefits to Sunkist and the citrus industry of Mr. Gargiulo's leadership "won't be seen probably for another couple of years as some of the new strategic directions that he has fostered start to take hold," Mr. Verloop added.
Mr. Gargiulo "has had great impact in refocusing Sunkist" to think not so much "as a producer organization but more in the terms of what is in the best interest of the consumer" and the customer, he said.
Mr. Gargiulo has "strongly supported a lot of sales promotions activities that have provided some innovative things in the industry," Mr. Verloop continued. He has also been "a very strong advocate of Sunkist bringing in fruit from other sources when we ourselves were not able to supply it because of seasonality, so that the whole issue of globalization became very important."
Mr. Gargiulo also moved Sunkist into the fresh-cut arena, Mr. Verloop noted. "In the very first meeting I had with him, that was identified as a strategic imperative -- that we had to get into fresh-cut fruit, with the understanding that we had a lot of technology issues to overcome, but he kept that moving forward."
Throughout the Sunkist organization, there are many "types of programs" that Mr. Gargiulo "had the vision to establish," Mr. Verloop said. "The pathway has been laid out. Now it is going to be up to the rest of the management team, and whoever succeeds him, to execute those programs." The citrus category had been languishing for decades, Mr. Verloop said.
"I think with Jeff coming in and making changes with Sunkist, and then with CCGA, Sunkist and the industry "will be harvesting" the benefits of those changes "for many years to come."
