Fall Creek Farm & Nursery, Inc., a global blueberry breeding and nursery company, has announced that Tom Blaser has joined its professional board of directors.
Most recently, Blaser served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of W.R. Grace, a $2.2-billion global specialty chemical company. His appointment brings the Fall Creek board to nine individuals.
Prior to W. R. Grace, Blaser held multiple leadership roles in strategic, operational, and financial management, including serving as president of the North American business unit of Arysta LifeScience Corporation, a $1.6-billion private equity-backed global agricultural chemical and life science business.
Fall Creek, a family-owned company, has expanded its professional board of directors over several years from entirely family shareholders to include perspectives from external industry leaders with a wide range of business expertise. Blaser joins Mark Frandsen, Elin Miller, Kevin Murphy, and Roland Wolfram, other non-family, non-executive directors who collectively bring a wealth of diverse business experience to the board. Ulrich Pilz has recently retired from the board after almost seven years of service.
“As a family company, we know it’s crucial to have a strong board and appreciate the skills and contributions of outside board members to support us in doing the best job we can – and Tom is an example of someone who’ll help us continue to elevate operations,” says Dave Brazelton, Fall Creek co-founder and executive chair of the board. “He brings world-class financial acumen and experience in strategy and business leadership. He will be a great addition as we strive to better serve our customers, our industry and our communities.”
“I’m honored to join Fall Creek’s accomplished board and leadership team and to support them in continuing the company’s tremendous success and increasing global profile,” Blaser says of the appointment. “I was drawn to the opportunity because of the organization’s entrepreneurial spirit and culture, and I look forward to helping them continue to improve current business performance and achieve their goals.”
Blaser has a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Montclair State University. He is a certified public accountant and serves on the advisory board for the Montclair State University Feliciano School of Business.
