Home > News & Media > Mutual Holds 60th Annual Meeting; Becker Elected President

Mutual Holds 60th Annual Meeting; Becker Elected President

For Immediate Release:
For more information, contact Andrew Meadows at (863) 682-1111.

LAKELAND, FL (June 16 , 2008) –Florida Citrus Mutual’s Board of Directors elected officers for the ’08-’09 season at its 60th Annual Meeting which took place last week at the 2008 Florida Citrus Industry Annual Conference in Bonita Springs, FL.

Fran Becker, vice president of fruit procurement for Peace River Citrus Products, Inc., Bradenton, was elected president of Mutual. Becker succeeds J.A. “Jay” Clark III, Wauchula, owner of Clark Farms Inc. Clark will remain on Mutual’s Executive Committee.

Vice-presidents elected for the 2008-09 season are: Vic Story of Lake Wales representing the western area; Trey Smith, of Vero Beach, representing the eastern area; Raymond “Bo” Bentley, Jr. of Winter Haven representing the northern area; and Mark Wheeler of Lake Placid representing the southern area.

Marty McKenna of Sebring was re-elected as secretary and Dennis Broadaway of Haines City was re-elected as treasurer.

The Board of Directors re-elected Mike Sparks as executive vice president/CEO, Jewel Letchworth as assistant secretary and Kevin Metheny as assistant treasurer.

Mutual also officially installed its 21-member board of directors at the Annual Meeting. Each director serves a one-year term, with a term limit of two years for the president.

Other members of the board include: Robert E. Battaglia of Winter Park; Larry Black of Ft. Meade; Kevin Bynum of Vero Beach; J.A. “Jay” Clark, III of Wauchula; Rex Clonts of Apopka; David Evans of Oviedo; Richard “Ric” Freeman of Winter Garden; P. Louis Haverlock of Balm; Tom Jerkins of Ft. Pierce; George Neukom, III of Zephyrhills; Steve Ryan of Arcadia; John Smoak, III of Lake Placid; Steve Sorrells of Arcadia; and Wade Timpner of LaBelle.

Founded in 1948 and currently representing nearly 8,000 grower members, Florida Citrus Mutual is the state’s largest citrus growers organization. For more information, please visit www.flcitrusmutual.com.

###