(UPDATED COVERAGE, 12:13 p.m., Dec. 6) Tom Tjerandsen is stepping down as North American managing director of the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association, and Karen Brux is succeeding him.
Tjerandsen, who has represented several fresh produce marketing boards in a career starting in the 1970s, will formally step down from the Sonoma, Calif.-based association Jan. 1, said Linda Low, an account manager with the Santa Rosa, Calif.-based MacKenzie Agency, which represents the association.
Brux will join the association the first week of January. She was offered the job in October by Ronald Bown, chairman of the Santiago-based Chilean Fresh Fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX), said Jay Bell, MacKenzie’s commodities project supervisor. She accepted the job in November.
Tjerandsen said he wasn’t retiring entirely from the produce industry.
“I’ll continue working for some other commodity organizations, as well as help Karen with the transition.”
Tjerandsen joined the association in 2004 as interim director. Soon after that, he assumed the permanent title of North American marketing manager.
As a partner in San Francisco-based McClure and Tjerandsen, Tjerandsen helped established many of the first marketing programs for Chilean fruit exported to North America with Barney McClure.
Tjerandsen also has worked on behalf of the apricot, pomegranate, papaya, prune and other fruit industries. More recently, he has worked as a marketing consultant for the El Centro-based California Asparagus Commission.
In a news release, Bown praised Brux’s experience and Tjerandsen’s service to the association.
“We are delighted to find someone whose background and talents so closely match the needs of the Chilean fresh fruit industry,” Bown said. “We appreciate Tom Tjerandsen’s many contributions to the Chilean fresh fruit program. Tom has been a crucial part of the trade development between Chile and the U.S. fruit industry. We will be forever indebted to his loyal work and he will be truly missed. We wish him well with the next phase of his life.”
After a 15-year career working for Tauranga, New Zealand-based Zespri International, the exclusive marketer of New Zealand kiwifruit exported to North America, Brux joined the Fresno-based California Table Grape Commission in October 2011 as vice president of marketing communications.
“I believe there are significant growth opportunities for Chilean fresh fruit in North America,” Brux said. “I look forward to utilizing my trade, consumer and foodservice marketing experience to further enhance the great work already being done by the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association.”
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