Home > News & Media > Citrus Growers Elect Board For 2007-08 Season

Citrus Growers Elect Board For 2007-08 Season

LAKELAND, Fla. (May 10, 2007) – On May 9, Florida Citrus Mutual’s grower members re-elected 21 directors to serve on the association’s board for the 2007-2008 season.

Mutual’s 21-member board of directors sets the direction and the policies of the association, which focuses on trade, legislative and regulatory issues on behalf of Florida’s citrus growers.

FCM board members for the 2007-2008 season are:

District 1 – Re-elected: David Evans, Oviedo, vice president of Nelson & Co.
District 2 – Re-elected: George Neukom, III, Zephyrhills, vice president of Neukom Properties.
District 3 – Re-elected: Rex Clonts, Apopka, owner and president of Clonts Farms.
District 4 – Re-elected: Richard “Ric” Freeman, Winter Garden, president of P.H. Freeman & Sons and Bob Battaglia, Winter Park, vice president of Battaglia Fruit Co.
District 5 – Re-elected: P. Louis Haverlock, Balm, president of Lou Ross Citrus, Inc.
District 6 – Re-elected: Raymond “Bo” Bentley, Jr., Winter Haven, fruit buyer/harvesting supervisor of Bentley Brothers, Inc.; Dennis Broadaway, Haines City, general manager of Haines City Citrus Growers Association and Victor Story, Jr., Lake Wales, president of Story Grove Service, Inc..
District 7 – Re-elected: Kevin Bynum, Vero Beach, owner/CEO of Premier Citrus; J. Emmett Evans III, Vero Beach, vice president of Evans Properties; J. Brantley Schirard, Jr. of Fort Pierce, vice president/general manager of Schirard Citrus, Inc. and Trey Smith, Vero Beach, vice president of Leroy Smith, Inc.
District 8 – Re-elected: Fran Becker, Bradenton, vice president of fruit procurement for Peace River Citrus Products, Inc. and Steve Sorrells, Arcadia, owner and president of Sorrells Groves, Inc.
District 9 –. Re-elected: J.A. “Jay” Clark III, Wauchula, owner of Clark Farms, Inc.; Marty McKenna, Sebring, president of McKenna & Associates Citrus, Inc. and John Smoak, III, Lake Placid, general manager of Smoak Groves, Inc.
District 10 – Re-elected: Charles Lucas, Ft. Myers, president/CEO of Consolidated Citrus LP; Wade Timpner, LaBelle, vice president of Jackson Citrus and Mark Wheeler, Lake Placid, president of Wheeler Brothers, Inc.

Directors serve one-year terms and will be formally inducted at Mutual’s Annual Meeting on June 6 at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa in Bonita Springs. Officers for the 2007-2008 season will be elected at that time.

Florida Citrus Mutual, founded in 1948, is the state’s largest citrus grower’s organization with nearly 10,000 members.

###