Joe Vargas has been hired as the director of business intelligence for the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and North American Blueberry Council (NABC), according to a news release. In this newly created role, Vargas is responsible for developing and leading a best-in-class data and insights program for the blueberry industry.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Joe to the team and can’t wait for him to lend his expertise to providing the blueberry industry with the data insights that are needed today to make smart business decisions,” said USHBC and NABC President Kasey Cronquist, in the release. “His experience and strong communications skills make him a perfect fit to develop and lead this part of our program at a critical time for the industry. He’ll help us use data to connect the dots to help us drive even greater demand opportunities for blueberries!”

Prior to joining the councils, Vargas was the director of marketing, business development and business intelligence for FirstFruits Marketing in Yakima, Washington.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in information technology from Central Washington University, where he also taught graduate and undergraduate data analytics courses.

In his new role, Vargas will lead the councils’ Data and Insights Program and will be responsible for building a production, inventory and historical price reporting program.

“I’m thrilled to be joining USHBC and NABC in this critical new role for the industry,” Vargas said in the release. “We live in an information age — data can be useful, but it’s even more valuable when combined with intelligence, research, context and professional judgment, and that’s where I’ll focus.”

—by Jonelle Mejica