PMA's Foundation for Industry Talent Celebrates 10th Anniversary

The Produce Marketing Association (PMA) Foundation for Industry Talent is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year by refreshing itself for the next 10 years, including a new name, logo and an even stronger commitment to the industry’s greatest asset – its people.

PMA’s strategic focus on talent began in 2004, when a fledgling program to recruit top college students to careers in the industry was held in conjunction with PMA’s Fresh Summit Conference and Expo.  PMA Foundation was founded shortly thereafter to attract, develop and retain talent for the global produce and floral industry.  Since then, PMA Foundation has significantly expanded its student attraction programs; eight Career Pathways programs are planned for 2016. Its leadership development programs help professionals – including women, young and mid-level professionals, and senior executives – currently working in the industry to advance the skills they need to succeed in their careers.

PMA Foundation’s Board of Directors and staff began preparing for the group’s 10th anniversary by engaging in deep-dive strategic planning. That led to rebranding PMA Foundation as the Center for Growing Talent by PMA. With the new brand identity comes a new logo, as well.

 “We are evolving into the Center for Growing Talent by PMA to better communicate to our industry what we can do for them,” Dick Spezzano, Center for Growing Talent by PMA’s board chairman and president of Spezzano Consulting Service, Inc. “The new name also emphasizes that the strong relationship with PMA continues.”

“We celebrate our 10th anniversary this year, and that milestone demanded introspection to ensure we’re best positioned for now, the next 10 years and beyond,” said Leonard Batti, chair-elect of Center for Growing Talent by PMA and president of Taylor Farms, Florida, Inc. “As a result, we’re stepping up our programming so that we can best serve our industry into the future. We also hope that the industry will better understand why we need their financial support.”

Strategic planning led the Center for Growing Talent by PMA to set an “invest-to-grow agenda” for its programs and the people who deliver them.

“Simply put, that means we are pushing the organization to a new level to meet our industry’s ever-growing demands for talent, and to respond to competitive forces that are threatening our industry’s ability to retain our essential people,” said Jim Leimkuhler, the organization’s immediate past chair and Progressive Produce president. “We listened carefully, and are leaning into our industry’s most important priorities – for today and tomorrow.”

Specifically, the Center for Growing Talent by PMA:

• is scaling up its Attract strategy, to increase its reach to more universities and more students;
• is calibrating its Develop strategy, so its leadership programs best meet the mission and are sustainable; and
• will position itself to help companies understand what it takes to keep and advance the right people by defining its Retain strategy

 “I am thrilled that the Pack Family Career Pathways program, which was the inaugural program for the Center for Growing Talent by PMA, remains the centerpiece of the student attraction programs,” said Jay Pack. Pack is a long-time contributor whose Pack Family Foundation financially supports the original student attraction program held at Fresh Summit each year. “It is hugely rewarding to see the investment we made spark a decade of growth, and immensely gratifying to see the quantity of successful careers launched by the Pack program.”

“In fact, in just over 10 years, we have reached nearly 800 students, 65 percent of whom have come to work in our industry,” said Margi Prueitt, Center for Growing Talent by PMA executive director.

Visit the Center for Growing Talent by PMA at www.GrowingTalentbypma.org.