Apeel Sciences, Santa Barbara, Calif., is opening offices in Mexico, the Netherlands and Peru.
The company is opening the offices as global demand for its shelf-life extension technology grows, according to a news release.
Apeel established an agreement with European avocado marketer Nature’s Pride this year, and has been working with U.K. retailer Asda.
The Netherlands office, which is scheduled to be the first of the three to open, will service European accounts. The company’s plant-derived technology was approved by the European Commission in June, according to the release.
The company has added five executives:
- Jason De Turris, vice president of brand — He has marketed brands including Rolex, Jell-O, Xbox and Naked Juice, and will use that experience to establish Apeel’s “consumer brand and retail activation strategy,” according to the release.
- Viviane Schappo, director of supplier relations-Latin America — Schappo has been with C.H. Robinson for 12 ½ years, most recently as sales manager of the Latin America region. She’ll be supporting Apeel’s partners there and in-country implementation processes, according to the release.
- Megan Opp, chief people officer — Her role is to ensure the company’s culture “seamlessly scales as the company grows,” according to the release.
- Bill Strong, chief financial officer — As vice president of finance, he helped the company raise $110 million; he has been with the company 3 ½ years; and
- Erich Klawuhn, vice president of product — Formerly vice president at View Inc., makers of dynamic glass, Klawuhn will help bring Apeel products to market and identify new “verticals” for Apeel’s technology.
Apeel has plans to hire more than 100 additional employees as it beefs up staffing in the new offices, including product and stratefy, operations and engineering roles.
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