The Cherry Marketing Institute’s board of directors named Julie Gordon to replace Phil Korson as president/managing director of the Cherry Marketing Institute (CMI), according to a news release. Korson will retire Jan. 1, 2020, after working in the tart cherry industry for over 40 years.

CMI is a nonprofit tasked with increasing demand for U.S. Montmorency tart cherries. Gordon has worked at CMI for 19 years, serving as CMI’s export marketing director and chief financial officer. She led the expansion of the tart cherry export program into China and South Korea, while maintaining programs in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Gordon is the primary contact between CMI’s in-country marketing representatives and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. She also serves on the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee, and in June was appointed by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to the Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade in Processed Foods. Both committees deal with important trade issues, according to the release.

“It’s been a challenging couple of years for cherry growers, and I’m committed both domestically and internationally to leverage grower dollars to expand and strengthen promotion and research efforts for the U.S. tart cherry industry,” Gordon said. “Trade has become a very important issue for our industry, and my goal is to ensure that the U.S. tart cherry industry is well represented at both the state and federal level.”

CMI also will post a policy/grower relations position. For more information about CMI, visit choosecherries.com.

—by Matt Milkovich