08/18/08 New Hort Director

New Hort Director. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Bruce Grim has his work cut out for him. First of all he continues to manage the Marketing Association and has recently stepped into the shoes of Jim Hazen who for 10 years held the reins of the Washington State Horticultural Association. GRIM: Jim has done an outstanding job in the 10 years that he has been in the position of executive director. I certainly can't tell you that we're going to sit here and make any changes to what's been going on. There had been some concern in the association about whether Grim would keep both positions. GRIM: It's an issue of management. We'll adjust the roles of some folks and my administrative assistant here at the Marketing Association will certainly be expanding her role a bit, picking up some of the slack and it's as I say going to be an issue of managing and I think the organizations are diverse enough that our boards won't be stepping on one another's toes. Their roles and functions are very much different. Recently the Apple Commission decided to move in a different direction but Grim says he plans to stay the course. GRIM: Obviously our plate is full with the Hort. I think the board of directors of this organization have recently concluded a strategic planning session. I think our goals, objectives, our direction within Hort are pretty well set. We'll certainly work with the board fine-tuning the policies they've put into place and make sure we are delivering on those as we set goals and objectives to carry out in that whole process. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.