Wonderful Citrus Transitions Leadership

Wonderful Citrus of Los Angeles has named Zak Laffite its new president, effective Jan. 1. Laffite will assume the position previously held for 20 years by David Krause, who will transition into the newly created role of adviser to Stewart Resnick, chairman and president of The Wonderful Co.

“Zak approaches this role with a deep understanding of our business and a unique talent for working cross-functionally with our employees, retailers and grower partners,” Resnick said in a statement. “David will be missed by the entire Wonderful Citrus family, but I’m thrilled he has agreed to remain on in an advisory capacity, and I look forward to Zak leading our business well into the future.”

Wonderful Citrus, part of The Wonderful Co., is America’s largest integrated grower, shipper and packer of fresh citrus. It owns, cultivates and harvests more than 60,000 acres of fresh citrus and ships it around the world each year. Its flagship consumer brands include Wonderful Halos mandarins and Wonderful Seedless Lemons.

“This is an exciting time for Wonderful Citrus as we roll out our newest brand, Wonderful Seedless Lemons, and continue to lead the mandarin category with Wonderful Halos,” Laffite said in a release. “I’ve been incredibly fortunate to learn from David, who has been instrumental in growing Wonderful Citrus to the successful business it is today, and I can’t wait to tackle the challenges that lie ahead.”

Laffite has been with Wonderful Citrus since 2004, most recently in the role of chief sales officer. At Wonderful, he has also served as chief operating officer, VP of supply chain and senior director of product management.

Wonderful Citrus is part of The Wonderful Co., the privately held $4.6 billion company behind brands such as Wonderful Pistachios, Fiji Water, Pom Wonderful, Justin Wine and Teleflora.