the idea of establishing his own consulting business, working on the international stage, and he was happy with his home location in La Jolla. But after consulting with Zinetta, he agreed to at least interview for the spot. A couple of interviews later, he was offered the position. “We prayed about it and decided that if it were offered we would take it,” he said. At the time, the search committee had been charged with “looking outside the box” as they contemplated potential candidates. Nassif ’s depth of experience checked many of the boxes that were on the committee’s wish list, and the position also checked many of the boxes on his wish list for future employment. First and foremost was his passion for produce. As a labor lawyer for agriculture three decades earlier, he learned to love the industry and the people in it. It seemed like a match made in heaven…literally. Setting the Association on a Better Course Nassif took the position on February 1, 2002, and was raring to get to work to tackle the thorny issues that faced
Nassif at an Ag Day celebration in Sacramento with First Lady of California, Maria Shriver
agriculture, such as immigration reform. He never gave it a thought that the association was in a difficult financial position. But it was, and that became his first order of action. Nassif realized that several programs
were not fiscally solvent and he went about to eliminate those financially failing efforts. By the end of his first year in office, the necessary steps had been taken and he was named president/CEO of both the association and insurance sides of
Western Growers members are the best producers of high-quality fruits and vegetables in the world.
We recycle the produce that supermarkets don’t sell into organic liquid fertilizer using our efficient 3-hour enzyme process. Our product is screened, pasteurized and prepared to help Western Growers do what they do best – grow the next crop of healthy fruits and vegetables.
www.CalSafeSoil.com | 4700 Lang Avenue Bay C, McClellan, CA 95652 | California Safe Soil | U.S. Patent No. 9,416,062
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NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2019
Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com
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