Mills Family Farms Promotes Brothers into
Senior Vice Presidential Posts     

By Todd Foltz
The Packer/Western Editor

SALINAS, Calif. – The grower-shipper that changed its name with the New Year to better reflect its family production business has promoted two key executives to titles that best represent their hands-on duties throughout the business.

Mills Family Farms has promoted David Mills and Jim Mills to senior vice presidents of the company, which was called Mills Inc. until the end of 2003.

David Mills had been vice president of sales and production, and his brother, Jim Mills, had been vice president of sales and marketing.

The promotions coincide with the company’s continued focus on the whole leaf and value-added categories. Mills’ Wholeaves® brand of romaine crowns, romaine hearts, green leaf crowns and red leaf crowns have won the National Board of the American Tasting Institute’s highest award for taste in the foodservice whole leaf lettuce category four years running – from 2001 through 2004.

"In a family business, regardless of your title, you tend to have your hands involved in a variety of aspects of the business," said Jim Mills. "The new titles better describe the range of things Dave and I are responsible for. We’re not just pigeonholed in sales and marketing or production."

In their new positions, the brothers will be responsible for business development for traditional and value-added products, coordination of all growing and harvesting operations and development of all sales and marketing functions.

"Business development is a major part of what we do now," Jim Mills Said. "But both of us are very involved in overseeing our sales and marketing team. We will both be involved in working on production schedules, planting, schedules and harvesting schedules."

Both brothers will continue to be active in the community and the industry, as well. David Mills is past chairman of the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California and serves on the board of directors for Western Growers and the Monterey Ag Education.

Jim Mills serves on the board of directors for the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California and is past resident of the organization that is now called Ag Against Hunger, which distributes more than 10 million pounds of donated fresh produce annually to California food banks.