As a young boy, my grandfather took me to his property and we gardened, grafted trees, groomed grape vines, raspberry and blackberry plants. He taught me how to cultivate the plants, prune the plants, and pick the fruit and vegetables they bore.

My Dad owned a grocery store which he opened the year I was born. There I learned to bag and stock groceries.

As I teenager, I had a small lawn and garden tractor that I used to grow a one and a half acre garden. I plowed in the fall, tilled in the spring, and mowed all summer with this little tractor. I did other people's gardens and lawns as income while in school as well. Each year I would plant 500 tomato plants, stake and prune them as they grew, and then peddle the tomatoes.

After graduating high school, I went to AG school for a semester. One semester was all it took to learn that I lacked the financial competency to start a farm, so I went to work in my Dad's grocery store and got married.

I loved the produce department and all its seasonal supply of fruits and vegetables. This is where I learned to be a merchandiser.

I was born again while while working as a produce manager in my father's grocery store and therefore desired to go to Bible College and learn more about the basis of my faith and practice. While in Bible College, I worked in a grocer chain store and learned the world of chain store management. It was quite different than the family run store. I come from a long family heritage of entrepreneurs. One of my grandfathers was an ice man and the other a grocery man. My Dad took the family business from an over-the-counter store to a "supermarket".

After college, I went to work for a produce wholesaler, Pisciotta Fruit & Vegetable Company. I sold grocery stores and used my merchandizing experience to service my accounts and gain their trust and business. By helping them grow their business I earned their business. This method was tremendously effective and our business grew quickly.

I was approached to work as Produce Director for Affiliated Foods, a grocery warehouse. I took the job knowing it would stretch me to run a warehouse program that supplies over 300 stores and six different advertising groups. I wrote the ads, chose our grower shipper supply base, brands, and set the pricing. I managed a staff consisting of a merchandiser, a quality controller, a buyer, and a banana ripener. We had an average growth of 43% the three years I was there.

I was then approached by the nations largest table stock potato grower. He was based in Idaho and had a 40,000 acre growing operation. I became a regional sales manager and helped double his sales that year. The following year he made me national sales manager.  I lead the expansion into 7 regional managers, and grew the program from an Idaho russet grower to selling all major varieties of potatoes from all major growing areas. We doubled the business each year for three years. While I was working for Basic American Foods as the National Retail Sales Director for Sunspiced USA, I represented two cooperatives which collectively made up approximately 100 potato growers. One coop was in Washington and the other in Idaho. The Idaho coop took the lead in promoting Sunspiced on a national basis. I took the lead in bringing in the US Potato Board to present their research from a $6 million study, the project that lead to “reengineering the potato”. The study showed the need to market potatoes in different ways and that the industry needed to adapt to today’s consumer. I brought Mac Johnson in, for a special meeting where this material was presented. About 50 growers who came to hear him went out of that day’s session motivated to grow new varieties and understood the need for change.

In 1998, I founded Market Fresh Produce, successfully marketing produce to major restaurant chains and grocery stores, and even establishing a full-scale produce distribution warehouse.  At Market Fresh, I began providing consulting services to members of the industry, and it was in this capacity that I identified my true passion…helping producers to increase their revenues.

In 2007, I transferred ownership of Market Fresh Produce to my business partners and launched Grow My Profits, a produce consultancy that maximizes producers’ returns by identifying the right product mix and appropriate sales strategies.

Drawing from my experiences in fresh produce procurement, supply chain management, sales and distribution, Grow My Profits helps members of the produce industry – growers, shippers, processors, re-packers and information technology specialists – to identify and eliminate areas of waste, to implement positive business practices with the potential to maximize their returns, and to establish productive connections with other members of the industry.

I look forward to working with you to help you grow your profits.