Retirement beckons Mission’s Dave Austin
Retirement beckons Mission’s Dave Austin
Dave Austin, national director of marketing at Mission Produce Inc., announced that he would retire March 13 after a long and distinguished career in both the public and private sectors of agriculture.
Austin said that Robb Bertels, who has been with Oxnard, CA-based Mission Produce for about two years, will be taking over as national director of marketing.
Dave Austin
Austin, who will be 62 years old this April, joined Mission Produce in 2002, working from the Albany, NY, area. Before that, he had his own marketing company, called Austin Associates, which was headquartered in Albany, from 1997 to 2002. Mission was a client of his marketing company during those years.
From 1996 to 1997, Austin was director of business development at Agway Inc. in Syracuse, NY. Before that, from 1973 to 1995, Austin was chief marketing manager at the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets in Albany.
Austin, who was born in April 1953 south of Rochester, NY, has been married to his wife, Kim, for 41 years. They have two sons and five grandchildren.
Asked what he will miss most after retiring, Austin replied, “I will miss Mission Produce a lot, of course. But networking and garnering the trust of customers is what I enjoyed the most, by far. In this business, it’s still all about trust and those relationships. It’s a cliché, but boy is it true.”
As to how he will spend those retirement years, Austin stated, "I plan to spend more time with my church. Also, I'm a hunter and a fisherman and a gardener. And I love biking, too. So I'm looking forward to spending more time with all of those things."
He concluded, "Of course, I'm very much looking forward to spending more time with my grandchildren. And with my lovely wife, Kim. It's a true friendship."