PMA Introduces the Center for Growing Talent by PMA

PMA Foundation’s Board of Directors and staff began preparing for the group’s 10th anniversary by engaging in 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,” says Dick Spezzano, Center for Growing Talent by PMA’s board chairman and president of Spezzano Consulting Service. “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,” says Leonard Batti, chair-elect of Center for Growing Talent by PMA and president of Taylor Farms, Florida. “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 plans for the Center for Growing Talent by PMA, as outlined by officials include:

 “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,” says 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.