Blue Diamond’s commitment to supporting our troops is especially meaningful to me. My own stepson, Ignacio serves in the 82 nd Airborne Division of the United States Army and is currently stationed in Ft. Bragg. His mother and I are extremely proud of his service to our country. As most of you know I’m a third generation Blue Diamond grower. I’ve had the honor of serving as your District 1 Director since 2006, and Board Chairman since 2014. It has been my extreme pleasure to help lead the co-op in this capacity. However, after 17 years on the Board, I have decided this will be my final term. Following the Annual Meeting, I turned my Chairman’s gavel over to your District 5 Director, Steve Van Duyn who was elected as your new Chair. I plan to spend the remainder of my term assisting Steve through this transition. If we’ve ever shared a conversation, you know that my family is everything to me. As I step away from the Board, I look forward to spending more time with my beautiful wife Yolanda, son Daniel, and the rest of our family in the home we are remodeling in Sevilla, Spain.
Like any healthy organization, the strength of Blue Diamond relies on dedicated leadership in every aspect of our co-op — from our Board of Directors to our Co-Op Leadership Team to our Grower Liaison Committee. I want to congratulate our new Grower Liaisons and returning Board of Directors members who were announced at the Annual Meeting. Thank you all for your commitment to helping lead our cooperative. This time last year, I was leading the search to find a new president and CEO for Blue Diamond Growers . An international executive search firm identified a number of excellent candidates, both inside the co-op and from other companies. Ultimately we chose a leader with exceptional expertise. Someone I consider to be wicked smart and not afraid to make hard decisions. From the moment Kai Bockmann started in January, he hit the ground running with an initial focus of meeting with every board member in every district throughout the state. He was determined to talk with as many of our growers as he could about what you need from your cooperative. Over the last several months, Kai and his Leadership Team have worked tirelessly to identify opportunities to strengthen Blue Diamond ’s product portfolio and substantially grow markets for our almonds around the world. They have developed an aggressive strategic plan and growth trajectory for Blue Diamond over the next three years that we’ve reviewed extensively as a Board. I want to assure you that each member of your co-op’s leadership team is personally committed to executing this strategic plan and driving Blue Diamond ’s success.
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NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2023
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