Sunkist director retires, replacement named

After more than 30 years in the citrus industry and nearly 11 years at Valenciabased Sunkist, Dave Pott, Sunkist director of export sales, will retire at the end of this year, the company announced Friday.

Ray Mizutani, who joined Sunkist in 2011 and has worked in the export department focusing on the Korean market, will replace Pott.

Prior to Sunkist, Mizutani worked for Nishimoto Trading procuring California citrus for the Japanese and Chinese markets.

“Dave has been a key contributor to Sunkist’s export sales division, managing relationships with importers and exporters. We will miss him,” said Kevin Fiori, Sunkist’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, in a statement.

Sunkist said it’s also promoting Jeff Gaston to director of western sales to oversee accounts in the western region from the cooperative’s Valencia-area headquarters in Santa Clarita.

Gaston has been with Sunkist for 16 years, previously working from Vancouver, B.C.

“Jeff has been an integral part of our sales team for many years, and we are pleased to be promoting him to a leadership position to focus on growth in the western region,” Fiori added in the statement.

Sunkist also announced that Terri Mouton recently joined Sunkist as director of varietal sales, focusing on the mandarin, tangerine and tangelo categories.

Fruits that are easy to peel are in high demand, the company said, and so Sunkist is putting a team in place to oversee and grow that category.

“Terri understands the challenges of the produce market and has a proven track record in business development, sales and marketing strategy,” Fiori said.

Sunkist Growers is a citrus marketing cooperative, founded in 1893 and owned by and operated for thousands of family farmers growing citrus in California and Arizona. It relocated its headquarters to Valencia from Sherman Oaks in 2014.