then he had met and married Kathleen and they were expecting their first child. Budget cuts left Hank with only a part- time job in the school district, which would not suffice for their growing family. “I started applying for jobs and saw a position at Western Growers that I applied for,” he said. “I was called in for an interview in the Phoenix office with Jasper Hempel. I remember I was sitting waiting to be interviewed and the person at the front desk saw her car being broken into in the parking lot. While she was on the phone with 911, the other line started ringing. She asked me to answer it. So, I picked up the phone and said ‘This is Western Growers, can I help you.’” Hank did get the job and that pre- interview phone greeting has come to define his three-decade long career at the organization. He has served the association in many capacities with his ability to materially help the membership in one way or another his most important calling card. He has always been a loyal member of one team in the organization or another, with those teams creating great R.O.I. for the membership. He was hired in 1990 in an advocacy position in the Arizona office of the association. In those years, WG also managed the local growers’ associations with Hank’s position serving as the top executive in those groups. He recalls that one of his early assignment dealt with finding relief from the whitefly, which was devastating the vegetable crops in the Southwest. “We became aware of a numbered compound that didn’t have a name yet that had efficacy on the whitefly,” he said, referring to what would become Admire, a crop protection tool developed by the Bayer Corporation. Hank immersed himself in the world of pesticide regulations and was able to help Bayer secure a Section 18 emergency registration for the whitefly. “It turned out to be the silver bullet,” he said. Giclas spent the 1990s in WG’s Phoenix office and became the association’s “science expert,” as well as its Arizona legislative advocate. He became very familiar with the Section 18 process and secured many registrations for members in California and Arizona as they awaited full registration of various crop protection tools. In 2000, Giclas moved to Sacramento in a similar position with responsibility over the California government affairs
office. After a relatively short stint of about 18 months, Hank was transferred back to Arizona and then in 2003, he was moved to the headquarters office in Irvine as the vice president of strategic planning, science & technology. It is under that same title that he retired from the organization in May of this year, but the job itself has changed significantly over the years. Hank admits that during those three years in the early 2000s that required three physical moves, he did consider his options as he and his wife had two young kids in elementary school and moving is always difficult. “But I love Western Growers and ultimately we decided it was good for the kids to experience different circumstances. And Western Growers took very good care of us with each move.” In retrospect, Hank knows they made the right decision as he very much appreciates his Western Growers career and especially the 17 years working out of the Irvine office. “The beauty of my position is that all kinds of issues landed in science and technology. As humbly I can state this, people trusted me with a lot of significant issues. Maybe it is because of my cool and calm demeanor but the science and tech department was able to deal with a lot of very important issues over the years.” Giclas said food safety became a focal point of the department after the spinach crisis of 2006. Cadmium and perchlorate
At the Organic Grower Summit 2018
have been two areas of concern within agriculture for many years. Both of which fell under the watchful eye of Hank’s department. And when Western Growers jumped into the technology world to help find solutions for some of the industry’s most vexing problems, again Hank’s department was given the lead role in this sector. “These are important areas,” he said. “The LGMAs (Leafy Greens Marketing Agreements) are impactful. The Center (for Innovation and Technology) is impactful. The work we’ve done on cadium and perchlorate to move the industry our of harms way have been impactful.”
Attending a Salk Institute event 2011
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JULY | AUGUST 2020
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