New Wine Commission Director

New Wine Commission Director. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

The Washington Wine Commission has just hired a new Executive Director to replace Robin Pollard. Ryan Pennington, Public Relations Manager for the Commission talks about the new director.

PENNINGTON: His name is Steve Warner. He is coming to the commission from Merck Pharmaceuticals and he will be here officially as of March 12. He has extensive experience in executive management, organizational leadership, trade association management and marketing savvy and I think he’ll be a tremendous asset for the industry.

This is a bit of a homecoming for Warner.

PENNINGTON: He’s a big wine guy. Although he has spent several years in his career abroad he is an original Washingtonian so he is coming home and we are very much looking forward to having him.

Pennington says they plan to keep the industry on track.

PENNINGTON: We’re certainly looking to position the industry for the next phase of it’s growth. We are in the process right now of renewing and refreshing our strategic plan when Robin started. Six years ago we had put in place a 6-year strategic plan and we’ve now come to the end of that so it’s the perfect opportunity with a new leader to develop a new strategic plan and help move the industry forward to it’s next phase of evolution.

Part of that new plan will be to expand the industry on 3 directions...locally, domestically and internationally through exports.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.