USDA appoints new board members to National Mango Board

Agriculture Secretary Tom J. Vilsack has appointed six members to serve the National Mango Board (NMB). The appointees include four new members and two returning members. They will serve three-year terms beginning January 1, 2015 and ending on December 31, 2017.

The new board members include domestic producer Philip W. Barton of Pescadero, Calif.; along with importers Greg Golden of Mullica, N.J., Michael Shawn Allen of Sugar Land, Texas, and Joella Shiba of San Diego, Calif. Also appointed are foreign producers Enrique Sanchez Ramirez of Nayarit, Mexico, and Oscar Orrantia Morla of Guayas, Ecuador. Mr. Golden and Mr. Sanchez are returning to the board to serve a second consecutive term.

The NMB appreciates those members whose terms have ended and thanks them for their service to the mango industry. They are Bill Vogel, Chairman, of Los Angeles, Calif., Veny L. Marti, Vice Chair, of Carolina, Puerto Rico, Wade Shiba of Missouri City, Texas, and Bernardo Malo of Guayaquil, Ecuador.

“We are confident that the new appointed members will strengthen the board and help us move along the way on this new era of change and development,” stated Manuel Michel, Executive Director of the NMB. “It is essential to have key leadership in the organization as it undertakes new phases of growth in the upcoming years.”