GreenFruit Avocados is strategically expanding its leadership team by bringing in one of the produce industry’s most experienced operations executives and elevating two rising leaders from within. The moves advance its mission to shorten the distance between grower and customer, delivering avocados consistently from grove to shelf in a vertically integrated supply chain, the company says.
Ryan C. Fink, a respected operations leader with more than 15 years of experience at some of the produce industry’s most recognized names, was named vice president of operations. The company also announced the promotions of Giovanni Espinosa to sales manager and Andrew Gomez to sourcing manager.
Following a transformative ownership restructuring in April, GreenFruit is building a fully vertically integrated avocado company spanning growing, packing, shipping and ripening operations across California, Mexico, Peru and Colombia. The new hire and promotions are designed to strengthen each link in the value chain.
“GreenFruit was built on the belief that bringing the customer closer to the grower is how you deliver a better product,” says
Scott Bauwens, CEO of GreenFruit Avocados. “Our mission is focused on owning the hardest and most valuable part of the supply chain, the last mile, where our challenge is to get the fruit to market at exactly the right moment. Ryan Fink has spent his career addressing that operational challenge and he has done it at scale. Andrew and Giovanni have been building this company from the ground up. Together, our full team is ready to make the last mile our strongest competitive advantage.”
Ryan Fink joins GreenFruit with more than 15 years of operations leadership in the produce industry, including a decade-long career at Mission Produce where he rose to vice president of North American Operations. At Mission, Fink built and led operations across nine forward distribution centers, a carrier transfer center and the company’s over-the-road transportation network. He expanded Mission’s Savannah import program from approximately 20 Peru containers to more than 250 in a single season, oversaw approximately $40 million in facility expansions and opened ripening facilities in Europe, China and North America. He also established Mission Logistics LLC, a third-party freight brokerage operation that generated approximately $3.2 million in its first year.
Earlier in his Mission tenure, as director of global quality assurance and distribution, Fink led the standardization of ripening procedures across the company’s distribution network and managed replenishment of more than 8 million pounds of product weekly. He holds an Executive MBA from the University of Michigan with honors and a B.S. in agricultural business and management from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Most recently, Fink served as chief operating officer of AvoPacific Oils, an international avocado oil business, where he led company-wide operations, sourcing, commercial strategy and financial management, doubling company sales over a two-year period. As vice president of operations for GreenFruit, he will oversee ripening operations, forward distribution, logistics and last-mile execution across the company’s North American network.
“Ripening is where the promise of vertical integration either gets delivered or falls apart,” Bauwens says. “Ryan built the systems at one of the largest operations in the world and has seen what it looks like when those systems are done right. That experience is exactly what GreenFruit needs at this stage.”
“What drew me to GreenFruit is the model,” Fink says. “Owning the supply chain across four countries is the right way to build this business. I am excited to help build the operational foundation that makes the last mile our strongest asset.”
Giovanni Espinosa has been promoted to sales manager after more than 11 years with GreenFruit Avocados, making him one of the longest-tenured members of the team. Espinosa joined GreenFruit in 2015 and has been at the front of the company through every stage of its growth. He was recognized by Produce Business magazine as a 40 Under 40 honoree in 2023, a distinction that reflects the reputation he has built across the retail, food service and wholesale channels he serves.
Espinosa’s experience spans domestic and international sales, inventory management and logistics, and he has been instrumental in building and deepening GreenFruit’s customer relationships across those segments. His promotion to sales manager reflects both his tenure and the natural growth of his role as the company scales its commercial operation.
“Giovanni has been at the front of this company since nearly the beginning,” Bauwens says. “He has built real relationships with our customers, grown the business, and shown up every single day. This new role is well-earned.”
Andrew Gomez has been promoted to sourcing manager after nearly six years with GreenFruit Avocados. Gomez joined the company as an intern in 2015 before returning full-time in 2021 and has steadily expanded his role and responsibilities across operations, marketing and sourcing. Before GreenFruit, he spent more than two years at Starcom in New York as a paid media analyst on the Samsung Mobile account, bringing a data-driven and analytical mindset to his work.
At GreenFruit, Gomez has been central to the company’s Colombian sourcing program, helping pioneer the vertical integration of that origin and receiving some of the first proving fruit from the region. His sourcing work spans California, Mexico, Peru and Colombia, and he brings an instinctive understanding of what it takes to build grower relationships that deliver consistent quality. His promotion to sourcing manager reflects his growth as an operator and the expanding importance of GreenFruit’s multi-origin sourcing model.
“Andrew has shown real range,” Bauwens says. “He understands the grower side, the operational and sales side, and he brings the kind of discipline and attention to detail that makes a sourcing program work. He has been instrumental in building out our entire sourcing program, and he is exactly the person we want leading sourcing as we grow.”
