Hass Avocado Board expands team

With the goal of “becoming America’s most popular and desired fruit by 2025,” Hass Avocado Board has expanded its staff with four new hires who will help keep pace with the growth of fresh Hass avocado sales, said the Mission Viejo, Calif.-based organization.

“As HAB enters its 20th year, we have invested in developing our organizational structure,” Emiliano Escobedo, executive director of HAB, said in a news release. “To maximize our impact, we have expanded the roles and responsibilities of our current staff based on their strengths and added new positions for strategic support. As a team, we are now poised to work more effectively and more efficiently to reach our long-term program goals.” 

The four new staff members who recently joined the organization include:

Feon Cheng, PhD, MPH, RDN, CHTS-CP, a nutrition scientist with a passion for evidence-based research, has joined as nutrition epidemiologist, said HAB. After four years with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Cheng will individually contribute to research that aligns with the board-approved long-term nutrition research strategy and manage external epidemiology studies. Leveraging her expertise in managing analysis of large datasets, specifically in older adults with obesity, she will also oversee a fellowship program to support secondary analysis and publication of the Habitual diet and Avocado Trial (HAT) study findings. 

Ella Bauer, PhD, has been named nutrition research associate manager. Bauer will manage the day-to-day monitoring of clinical research being conducted at universities and other prestigious research institutions. She will leverage her diverse background in research and organizational skills to help grow the contracted projects and subject participation each year. Additionally, her training in neuroscience will be used in developing the healthy living pillar, one of the program’s primary focuses of investment for the next ten years, said HAB.

Amanda Izquierdo, MPH, RD, LDN, is the new public relations and advertising manager. She is an experienced communicator who will be responsible for helping ensure strategic alignment on messaging, outreach and organization goals. She is the day-to-day point for multiple agency teams, leveraging her experience as a health professional as well as marketer to set and promote new context for the nutritional benefits of fresh avocados. Through the diverse touchpoints of Fresh Avocados – Love One Today, Izquierdo will strengthen engagement with health professionals and consumer audiences, according to HAB.

Pam Orgega has joined as the executive assistant of operations, a new role to help organize and assist the active leaders holding HAB’s 12 board positions. Ortega will support the current leadership as they map the vision for the future as well as help coordinate the annual board nominations process which just opened. 

In a release announcing the new hires, HAB said, “Adding the expertise and skills of these new staff hires to the roster bolsters the overall ‘HAB Effect,’ strengthening the ability for members to do things they wouldn’t be able to do without the collective power of the Hass Avocado Board.”