Steve Lutz, the Produce Marketing Association’s regional vice president-U.S. and Canada West, has ended his affiliation at CMI Orchards.
Lutz announced the PMA position in May, and wrapped up his five-year role at CMI earlier this month. He started at CMI as vice president of marketing and moved to senior strategist in 2017, providing strategy development, category management and data analysis, according to a news release.
“It has been a true pleasure working with Steve,” George Harter, CMI’s vice president of marketing, in a news release. “With the growing volume of successful branded and organic varieties at CMI, Steve helped develop impactful selling solutions and drive category growth for many of our customers.
“While we still have an exceptionally strong team at CMI, Steve will be greatly missed and we wish him only the best at PMA,” Harter said in the release.
Lutz was president of the Washington Apple Commission. He later co-founded and was executive vice president of a consumer research company, the Perishables Group, in Chicago, which later sold to Nielsen in 2012. When the sale became final, he joined CMI, according to the release.
“While I’m very excited about this next chapter in my career with the Produce Marketing Association, I will definitely miss working alongside my many friends at CMI,” Lutz said in the release.
