United Fresh 2019

Rich Gonzales
Vice President of Global Produce Sourcing
Walmart


Rich Gonzales is the Vice president of Global produce sourcing for Walmart US. His 25 years in produce is a diverse mixture of perspectives from farming and harvesting through logistics, finance, manufacturing, as well as sales and marketing general management. In the last seven years he has been involved in produce from a retail point of view. He joined Walmart in 2011 in the sourcing office in Yakima, WA overseeing the sourcing team and was promoted to vice president in 2014, relocating to Guadalajara, Mexico overseeing the produce sourcing from Mexico. In 2017 he was promoted to his current role overseeing the 10 produce sourcing sites around the western hemisphere. These teams account for 90% of fresh produce and floral for Walmart US. Prior to joining Walmart, he spent 18 years working for three industry leading suppliers in the citrus, packaged salad, vegetable and tree fruit segments and has had the great fortune and is thankful for the opportunity to have worked directly with many of the industry leaders and many great people in produce who have supported his career. Rich has a BS in Industrial Technology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and a MBA from Columbia University in New York. Rich also is a graduate of the United Fresh Produce Executive Development Program at Cornell University.

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