Ron V.

Lead team of growers and farm managers to improve the operational performance of the day to day farming business for multiple locations including plant plug nursery, transplant department, and 5,400 acres of commodity vegetable production located in Salinas CA, Huron CA, Oxnard CA, and Yuma AZ. • Achieved up to 5% yield performance by focusing on fundamentals of production practices including plant nutrition, pest and disease control, land preparation, and irrigation practices • Provide direction for restructuring of land base to reduce lease liability by $1MM while maintaining production volumes

Lead strategic change management team to develop and implement turn-around plan including organizational restructuring, development of formal governance and management systems, and business process innovation. • Lead the development of budgeting process and cost accounting system to accurately assign operating costs and identify opportunities for profit improvement including the implementation of P&L management system to reduce operating costs by more than 20% • Implemented software solutions to drive client’s payroll process improvements and reduce costs related to payroll processing by 20% • Develop and institute production-based incentive initiative to improve employee recruitment and retention by 20% compared to prior year

Based on ability to identify key business objectives, gather and analyze operational performance data, and lead teams to develop and actualize solutions, was given responsibility for leading operations for multiple organic and conventional strawberry production facilities in California and Florida with total crop value approaching $150MM, operations budget exceeding $70MM and capital budget of $15MM • Provided direction and leadership during dramatic restructure of production operations. As a result increased EBITDA by $1MM • Formed operations team to develop and execute multiyear production plan to include farm land acquisitions/rotations of 1500 production acres and a seasonal harvest workforce of over 2,000 EE’s

Provide senior leadership for 200 acre strawberry farming operation in Oceanside and 300 acre farming operation in Coachella California with a total crop value of $25MM, operations budget of $15MM including $6.2MM in harvest labor • Lead management team to successfully focus on and hold down production costs against 4% cost push year over year all while continuously providing high quality product to meet sales demand • Reduced cost per case by 15% by leading operational excellence initiatives, recognition of contributors, grassroots culture development, and technology adoption resulting in an increase of $250K in EBITDA

Based on demonstrated abilities I was given full P&L responsibility for 250 acre fresh strawberry production operation with $8MM operating budget.

Under the direction of the Farm Manager I was responsible for supervising daily activities and employee productivity to ensure work was performed to standard and identify any areas needing corrective action. This included all cultural and harvest practices, food safety, employee safety, irrigation and water quality, hazardous materials management, pesticide applications, fertilizer applications, and equipment/facility maintenance.

As part of management team was responsible for administrative business activities of 450 acre farming operation including directing and supervising AP and payroll functions, human resources and labor relations, regulatory compliance, and employee health and safety program for 175 full time and 600 seasonal employees. • Played key role in P&L management of $10MM operating capital achieving annual average EBITA of $500K during 4 year tenure. • Successful conversion from manual timekeeping to electronic data collection of hourly and piece rate activities allowing for timely reporting of labor efficiencies to forepersons and production work crews resulting in harvest cost reduction of 30% in the first year.

Responsibility for harvest planning, raw product logistics, post-harvest cooling, bulk packing , farm and packing equipment maintenance, and food safety. Additionally took over execution of growing programs and supervision of production team responsible for production planning, planting, cultivation, weeding, land prep, irrigation, and crop nutrition. • Effectively assist in the administration of fresh cut culinary herb operations by successfully merging production planning, product inventory management, and raw product supply to reduce product shrink by 18% • Developed team building and training initiative to improve in areas of product quality, food safety, and employee safety.

Concentration: Finance and Real Property Appraisal