Chiquita Brands International named Tanios Viviani president of Fresh Express following its June 28 acquisition of the branded-produce company.
Viviani had been VP of Chiquita Fresh Cut Fruit since joining Chiquita last year. He replaces Fresh Express President Mark Drever, who joins the Chiquita Management Committee to handle the absorption of Fresh Express and set Chiquita’s strategy for value-added produce.
“Tanios has helped turn around operations at Chiquita Fresh Cut Fruit … and has been heavily involved in the Fresh Express acquisition, including leading the integration and due diligence team,” said Chiquita CEO Fernando Aguirre in a statement. “Tanios has a proven track record managing brands and leading operations, establishing efficient supply-chain structures, negotiating strategic alliances and creating effective marketing plans.”
Several Fresh Express veterans continue in their current roles: CFO Brian McLaughlin; TransFRESH President Jim Lugg; executive VP Scott Komar, who adds responsibilities for the operations group; and VP-Business Management Rich Berry, senior VP-sales Jim Gallagher and VP-Business Management Jeff Lemmon, all of whom expand their sales and marketing roles.
Fresh Express’ VP-Emerging Business John Johnston, who has managed Fresh Express’ fresh-cut fruit operations, will take on Chiquita’s fresh-cut fruit business as the operations are merged under the Chiquita brand name.
Two Chiquita Executive VPs, Susan Ajeska (operations/food safety) and Margaret Scattini (marketing/business management) will leave their full-time posts to become part-time advisors to Chiquita.
Cincinnati-based Chiquita bought Fresh Express from Performance Food Group for $855 million, adding about $1 billion to Chiquita’s revenues.
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