Not long ago, we ran a piece pointing out that Rick Utchell, longtime Vice President of Marketing at Dole, was going to retire 
and Ronda Reed would become Vice President of Marketing for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables.
Now Dole has announced that David Bright will be reporting to Ms. Reed as he assumes his new position as Director of Marketing for Dole Fresh Fruit:
DOLE FRESH FRUIT ANNOUNCES NEW MARKETING DIRECTOR
Dole Fresh Fruit Company, a subsidiary of Dole Food Company, Inc., has announced the promotion of David Bright to Director of Marketing for Dole Fresh Fruit.
In this position, Mr. Bright will be responsible for strategic development and execution of all business plans and will report to Ronda Reed, Vice President of Marketing, Dole Fresh Fruit and Vegetables.
Mr. Bright will continue to oversee the marketing research and marketing services functions, as well as the newly created position of Dole Brand Manager, Fresh Fruit. The Brand Manager will lead all efforts on marketing implementation as well as new product development.
“David’s 11 years at Dole Fresh Fruit make him the ideal candidate for this position”, states Ms. Reed. “He truly understands all aspects of the marketplace, how Dole is positioned today and where we want to be tomorrow. I am very excited to have David leading our strategy”.
Mr. Bright holds a BS degree in Quantitative Economics & Decision Sciences from the University of California, San Diego and an MBA from California State University, Northridge.
The new Dole marketing team benefits from a deep bench of resources. Rick Utchell is famous in the promotion and marketing industry as the father of the Dole Bananimals. And Dole recently tapped into this resource to partner with Winn-Dixie to reopen a store that had been closed due to Hurricane Katrina:
DOLE BANANIMALS® ADD TO EVENT CELEBRATION
Winn-Dixie reopens store in Katrina-ravaged area of New Orleans
On Wednesday, September 26 Dole Fresh Fruit Company, Inc., a subsidiary of Dole Food Company joined Winn-Dixie in celebrating the grand reopening of their New Orleans East store following its devastation during Hurricane Katrina.
Among the special features of the rebuilt 50,700-square-foot store is an expanded fresh produce department. On hand to help celebrate was Dole’s Bobby Banana, who helped Winn-Dixie distribute 1,000 of the DOLE® Pineosaurus™ and DOLE® Banapup™ plush toys to local children that turned out for the event.
The high quality plush toys are part of a Dole promotion throughout the month of October that is focused on teaching children how fun and easy it can be learning about health and nutrition. Each plush character embodies a particular fruit and comes with a story of how they provide health and nutritional value to children everywhere. The DOLE Pineosaurus and DOLE Banapup plush toys will get children excited about the characters and enthusiastic about eating the products that they embody.
Residents of New Orleans have had a tough time. As the city continues to rebuild, it is nice to know that 1,000 children are sleeping tonight hugging a plush toy and dreaming of fresh produce.
