Walt Breeden brings more than 25 years of produce industry experience to his role of sales manager for Western Canada. He also directs our both our Tottori pear program throughout North America and our citrus category in Canada, concentrating on mandarin oranges grown in Japan, Korea and China.

Walt came to our company in 1987 and began selling California-grown fruit and vegetables to Western Canadian customers. He was promoted to sales manager in 1997 and was responsible for opening our Calgary office in 2001.

Walt's marketing role grew and he began working with New Zealand pipfruit, kiwifruit and a range of other imported and domestic items. In the mid-1990s, Walt became the leader of our Japanese mandarin business — building demand for the sweet, easy-peeling oranges we have proudly marketed to North Americans for nearly 120 years. He also was instrumental in bringing the first novelty Japanese square watermelon to Canada in 2002.

For the decade leading to his tenure with Oppenheimer, Walt was a produce buyer for Woodward Stores in Vancouver, B.C.

Walt currently serves on the Executive of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA). He was the convention chairman in 2006 and is scheduled to become the chairman of the CPMA in 2014. He also is the past president and former director of the British Columbia Produce Marketing Association (BCPMA).

Walt is married with two grown sons.