A familiar face in the Chilean produce industry has joined The Oppenheimer Group’s Santiago team.

Industry veteran Bill Lewis became the company’s South American trade manager on December 9. In his newly-created role, Lewis will concentrate on developing Oppenheimer’s export programs, which currently include such destinations as Asia, Europe and Central America.

Lewis brings three decades of industry expertise - the last two of them spent in Chile - to the position. Most recently, he served as a director and consultant to Santa Elena, a consortium of Chilean grape growers focused on European exports, in Chile and Delaware. Lewis spent the majority of his career as general manager with Pandol Chile, Santiago, beginning in 1989 and ending when Pandol Brothers’ Chilean operations were closed in 2008. His role entailed many aspects of the business, including oversight of farming operations from Chile’s third through tenth regions (Copiapo to Orsorno). Earlier, Lewis worked as the western area manager and senior buyer for Topco Associates, Visalia, Calif., and began his career as an inspector for the California Department of Agriculture.

His background spans a wide range of disciplines, including category management, marketing, procurement, grower relations, supply chain efficiencies and export.

At Oppenheimer, Lewis will lead the company’s Chilean-based export team, with the initial task of refining and implementing key export strategies.

“In the past, Oppenheimer’s Chilean exports to markets other than North America have been fairly modest,” said John Anderson, chairman, president and CEO. “Many of our growers handle their own exports. We will continue to support these efforts, while Bill’s expertise, relationships, and knowledge of the U.S., European, and Asian markets will enhance our approach. With his help, we’ll connect more of the right varieties with the right customers so we can broaden the global customer base for our grower family.” 

Over time, Lewis will also play a key role in indentifying areas where Oppenheimer can deliver greater value throughout the supply chain, Anderson said.

Lewis was attracted to the role at Oppenheimer “by quite a remarkable list of reasons,” he said. “Certainly the company has built an excellent reputation over the last 150 years. I have known about Oppenheimer as an organization, but also have had friendships with key individuals in the company for nearly thirty years. This gave me a lot of confidence in the level of professionalism within the organization, and in my short experience with the team in Santiago, I have not been disappointed.”

The Oppenheimer Group markets a full range of items from Chile, including grapes, stone fruit, kiwifruit, apples, pears and citrus.

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Related Web site: www.oppyproduce.com

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