Clarice Turner will be taking over as CEO of the Almond Board of California (ABC) at the end of the year. The recent announcement was made after a lengthy and thorough search. Director of Operations for Campos Brothers Farms and Chair of the Board of Directors for ABC, Alexi Rodriguez said the search committee had specific priorities in mind. The search parameters were for an individual that had experience with strategic leadership, with an emphasis on marketing and developing global demand.
“The stars sort of aligned for us. We knew that we were going to be asking a lot of this CEO and so it was inherent that the candidate would have some deep executive experience. Lucky for us, Clarice has everything that we were looking for and then some,” Rodriguez explained. “The search committee and I were uncompromising in our process, and I believe the results speak for themselves. We are incredibly excited to see what Clarice brings to the industry for years to come.”
Rodriguez explained that the committee set a goal of finding the right candidate by the end of the current crop year. The idea was to allow outgoing CEO Richard Waycott time to bring a new CEO up to speed. “Lucky for us we’ve found our candidate almost to the date of when we were hoping to find, in this case, her. We are fortunate to have some time for her to learn the industry before Richard’s eventual departure at the end of this year,” said Rodriguez.
Turner’s previous experience includes Joseph Phelps Vineyards, Starbucks Coffee Company, YUM! Brands, and PepsiCo. Rodriguez said that while Turner’s resume checked all the right boxes, there was another attribute that set her apart in the search process. “She is incredibly passionate about California agriculture. So, it’s her passion coupled with the experience that she has that really made her stand out very early in the process,” Rodriguez noted.
Listen to the segment below.
Brian German
Ag News Director / AgNet West