California Avocado Commission chief ends his 20-year run
California Avocado Commission chief ends his 20-year run
Mark Affleck, who has served as president and chief executive officer of the California Avocado Commission in Irvine, CA, for the past 20 years, has resigned from the post to pursue other interests. The commission's board of directors accepted the resignation May 15, which was effective immediately, and the resignation was announced by the commission in a May 16 press release.
Rick Shade, chairman of the commission, announced in the release that Tom Bellamore, senior vice president and corporate counsel for the commission, has been named acting CEO. Mr. Bellamore has been with the commission for the past 14 years.
"I will be forever blessed by my walk with this great industry," Mr. Affleck wrote in his letter of resignation to the board. "Words cannot describe the deep level of gratitude I have for you all. Please know that I did everything in my being to represent you in the most powerful and professional way possible ... and to maximize your crop value."
"For the past two decades, Mark's visionary leadership has been instrumental in generating increased consumer demand for avocados," Mr. Shade said in the release. "The avocado industry has benefited greatly from Mark's strategic approach to marketing."
In an interview with The Produce News, Mr. Shade said that Mr. Affeck's "contribution to the industry is literally incalculable. We know where we are. It is hard to know where we would have been without his leadership, but I dare say it is not anywhere near where we are. He certainly had a vision that kept a lot of us profitable for a lot of years."
According to Mr. Shade, the commission's executive committee will be working with an executive recruiting firm to conduct a search for a new president and CEO. "We have sent out requests for proposals for a couple of executive search firms, and we will be getting a search going here as quickly as we can," he said. "We are certainly going to be looking within the agricultural industry" as part of that search.
Asked about what Mr. Affleck's "other interests" were that he now plans to pursue, Mr. Shade replied, "Mark has been very active in his church for some time, and he has decided he is going to follow a second calling" within the church to which he belongs.
The Produce News was not immediately able to reach Mr. Affleck for comments.
Jan DeLyser, vice president of marketing for the commission, has worked with Mr. Affleck for the past nine years.
"I think anybody that knows him is very well aware of his strategic approach to the business and his role as a visionary leader on behalf of the avocado industry," she told The Produce News. "He did a great job. I think the commission is one that is held in high regard throughout the industry. He assembled a really great group of people who continue to work on behalf of the industry and enjoy the opportunity to continue to create demand for avocados."
Reflecting on some of Mr. Affleck's principal contributions to the industry during the past 20 years, Ms. DeLyser cited first "the increased awareness of the nutritional value" of avocados. At the time Mr. Affleck joined the commission, "avocados were known to be high in fat, and nobody was telling the story of the good fat. He saw an opportunity" to increase the awareness of the nutritional value of avocados and make the public aware that it is "OK to buy avocados because of all the good things that were in them," she said.
Under Mr. Affleck's leadership, the commission "established a nutrition advisory committee and really worked to leverage the information that was being made available out of Harvard and other think tanks," she said.
Since that time, "we have seen a tremendous turn in consumer awareness," Ms. DeLyser said. When asked why they buy avocados, more than 70 percent of consumers now cite the health aspects as a reason.
Mr. Affleck excels as a communicator and "is very much attuned with communications and networking," she said. "The avocado.org web site was one of the first of its kind, and it continues each year to raise the bar on what it provides in online connectivity with both consumers and the industry."
Another significant contribution that Mr. Affleck made for the industry was finding ways for the commission to communicate to retailers the importance of ripe programs, Ms. DeLyser said. "There were handlers and packers that were looking at ways to deliver consistent avocados that were ripe and ready to eat so the consumer could have the opportunity to make an impulse buy."
The commission developed its Ripe Max program in support of that effort. That ongoing program "is really the communication that allows retailers to understand what is in it for them when it comes to having a ripe program."
Ripe programs are now commonplace with supermarket retailers, she said. "It is unusual now for someone not to have a ripe program."
Mr. Affleck also helped bring avocado producers from various parts of the world together in an effort to work "toward the common goal" of increasing Hass avocado consumption in the United States, she said. "The California industry under Mark's leadership was the key conduit to the creation of the Hass Avocado Board," which brought about an "ongoing dialogue between the different sources of supply and the marketplace."
Rick Shade, chairman of the commission, announced in the release that Tom Bellamore, senior vice president and corporate counsel for the commission, has been named acting CEO. Mr. Bellamore has been with the commission for the past 14 years.
"I will be forever blessed by my walk with this great industry," Mr. Affleck wrote in his letter of resignation to the board. "Words cannot describe the deep level of gratitude I have for you all. Please know that I did everything in my being to represent you in the most powerful and professional way possible ... and to maximize your crop value."
"For the past two decades, Mark's visionary leadership has been instrumental in generating increased consumer demand for avocados," Mr. Shade said in the release. "The avocado industry has benefited greatly from Mark's strategic approach to marketing."
In an interview with The Produce News, Mr. Shade said that Mr. Affeck's "contribution to the industry is literally incalculable. We know where we are. It is hard to know where we would have been without his leadership, but I dare say it is not anywhere near where we are. He certainly had a vision that kept a lot of us profitable for a lot of years."
According to Mr. Shade, the commission's executive committee will be working with an executive recruiting firm to conduct a search for a new president and CEO. "We have sent out requests for proposals for a couple of executive search firms, and we will be getting a search going here as quickly as we can," he said. "We are certainly going to be looking within the agricultural industry" as part of that search.
Asked about what Mr. Affleck's "other interests" were that he now plans to pursue, Mr. Shade replied, "Mark has been very active in his church for some time, and he has decided he is going to follow a second calling" within the church to which he belongs.
The Produce News was not immediately able to reach Mr. Affleck for comments.
Jan DeLyser, vice president of marketing for the commission, has worked with Mr. Affleck for the past nine years.
"I think anybody that knows him is very well aware of his strategic approach to the business and his role as a visionary leader on behalf of the avocado industry," she told The Produce News. "He did a great job. I think the commission is one that is held in high regard throughout the industry. He assembled a really great group of people who continue to work on behalf of the industry and enjoy the opportunity to continue to create demand for avocados."
Reflecting on some of Mr. Affleck's principal contributions to the industry during the past 20 years, Ms. DeLyser cited first "the increased awareness of the nutritional value" of avocados. At the time Mr. Affleck joined the commission, "avocados were known to be high in fat, and nobody was telling the story of the good fat. He saw an opportunity" to increase the awareness of the nutritional value of avocados and make the public aware that it is "OK to buy avocados because of all the good things that were in them," she said.
Under Mr. Affleck's leadership, the commission "established a nutrition advisory committee and really worked to leverage the information that was being made available out of Harvard and other think tanks," she said.
Since that time, "we have seen a tremendous turn in consumer awareness," Ms. DeLyser said. When asked why they buy avocados, more than 70 percent of consumers now cite the health aspects as a reason.
Mr. Affleck excels as a communicator and "is very much attuned with communications and networking," she said. "The avocado.org web site was one of the first of its kind, and it continues each year to raise the bar on what it provides in online connectivity with both consumers and the industry."
Another significant contribution that Mr. Affleck made for the industry was finding ways for the commission to communicate to retailers the importance of ripe programs, Ms. DeLyser said. "There were handlers and packers that were looking at ways to deliver consistent avocados that were ripe and ready to eat so the consumer could have the opportunity to make an impulse buy."
The commission developed its Ripe Max program in support of that effort. That ongoing program "is really the communication that allows retailers to understand what is in it for them when it comes to having a ripe program."
Ripe programs are now commonplace with supermarket retailers, she said. "It is unusual now for someone not to have a ripe program."
Mr. Affleck also helped bring avocado producers from various parts of the world together in an effort to work "toward the common goal" of increasing Hass avocado consumption in the United States, she said. "The California industry under Mark's leadership was the key conduit to the creation of the Hass Avocado Board," which brought about an "ongoing dialogue between the different sources of supply and the marketplace."
