Pear Bureau Northwest president and CEO to depart

Pear Bureau Northwest President and CEO Kevin D. Moffitt is set to step down this summer after 35 years with the nonprofit marketing organization.

Moffitt will relinquish day-to-day duties as president and CEO as of July 1, however, he will continue in a part-time mentoring and training role until the end of the 2024-25 season to aid the transition of his successor, according to a news release.

His responsibilities as president include developing and overseeing the strategic communication, research, marketing and promotion programs designed to help bring profitable returns to the 700 grower families in Washington and Oregon by increasing awareness and consumption of fresh pears, the release said.

Pear Bureau Northwest said Moffitt also will be transitioning out of his role as manager of the Fresh Pear Committee for USDA’s federal marketing order No. 927, overseeing all regulatory functions for the nation’s longest-running marketing order.

Moffitt joined Pear Bureau Northwest in 1989 as the director of international marketing, where he developed and managed marketing programs for USA Pears in more than 30 countries. He also drew on his prior experience as a banana ripening technician with Dole to compile pear ripening research and develop the industry’s first ripening guidelines and handling manual in 1999, according to the release.

Pear Bureau Northwest said Moffitt has continued to advocate for conditioning pears, working with a third-party consultant since 2001 to train shippers and retailers on best practices and advantages for conditioning pears to increase consumer satisfaction and repeat sales of fresh pears. The program has grown exponentially under his guidance, with 58 retail banners in the U.S. and Canada now carrying conditioned pears, the release said.

Moffitt was named president and CEO of the bureau in 2001.

“As president, I led the Pear Bureau team to embrace change, as it is inevitable, and to adapt and evolve to stay relevant to consumers, the retail trade and our industry,” Moffitt said in the release.

As one of his earliest major innovations, he began experimenting with online shopping site promotions in 2001 with Webvan, one of the first online grocery delivery companies in the U.S., the release said. He and his team evolved and refined these initiatives over the years, and activations such as sponsored search and shoppable recipe ads are now a cornerstone of the organization’s retail promotions, according to the bureau.

Also in the early 2000s, he developed consumer how-to guides for using pears in decor and created a wine, cheese and pear pairing wheel; in addition, he invented and patented the reusable, recyclable Pear Packer to protect delicate, easily bruised pears, the release said. Other accomplishments include petitioning the USDA to declare December as National Pear Month, introducing the first World Pear Day and having pears named as the official state fruit of Oregon.

Educating consumers has been a priority for USA Pears under Moffitt’s leadership, the bureau said. He developed the USA Pears website to be the world’s largest website dedicated to pears, adding innovations such as making every recipe in the site’s deep database shoppable, so consumers can download and order all the ingredients in the recipe to be delivered to their home.

Marketing activations have also had a strong educational component, the release said, citing how he developed an augmented reality activation in 2022 as a fun and innovative way to demonstrate the versatility of pears in recipes and provide consumers with helpful information on ripening and storage.

“Kevin has embraced the role of being an advocate for growers and a champion for pears,” Jordan Matson, chairman of Pear Bureau Northwest, said in the release. “During his 23 seasons in this position, he has served as president for one-quarter of the bureau’s 93-year history. Throughout this time, he has demonstrated a passion for creative marketing with a high level of execution. He has been agile and open to change, ready to make bold moves and stay ahead of trends. We thank him for his decades of dedication and effective leadership as he moves into his next chapters in life.”

Moffitt has also been actively involved with national and international produce associations, according to the release. His past and present appointments include chairman of the World Apple and Pear Association, chairman of the U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council, member of the board of trustees for the Produce for Better Health Foundation, member of the board of United Fresh Produce Association, member of the USDA’s Technical Advisory Committee for Fruit and Vegetables, and chairman of the Produce Marketing Association’s International Trade Conference Committee, the release said.