Jun 1, 2020

Jim Allen, former president and CEO of New York Apple Association, retiring

Jim Allen, vice president of marketing for New York Apple Sales, will be retiring on June 26. Allen has been with NYAS since February 2017.

According to a news release, Allen has been in the produce industry for 48 years, starting in 1972 in the fruit processing business.  In 1980, he gained his marketing experience with Keystone Fruit Marketing, Greencastle, Pennsylvania. In 1996 .

Allen joined the New York Apple Association as retail promotions director, and in 2000 he became president and CEO of the Association until his retirement in 2017. Allen joined New York Apple Sales Inc. (NYAS) in April of 2017. He has been highly active over the years in the U.S. Apple Export Council, US Apple Association, United Fresh, and numerous New York state agricultural groups.

Allen was named Apple Person of the Year in 2002, earned the first ever Apple Champion Award from USApple in 2016, and the New York State Agricultural Society Distinguished Service Citation in 2019.

“The apple does not fall far from the tree” as Tenley Allen Fitzgerald will be taking over the marketing position at NYAS from her dad, Jim Allen.

“For years I have seen the pride and the joy in the eyes of so many farmers when their children decide to return to the farm and carry on the legacy that their families have built,” Allen said. “Although I do not own a farm, I have the same amount of pride seeing Tenley follow in the food, and now apple, industry, and I see the enormous amount of passion she has for her career path. If my passion and love for this industry have been an inspiration to Tenley, then that delights me to no end!”

Tenley Allen Fitzgerald graduated from Cornell  University in 2009 with a bachelor of science in food industry management. She has held positions at Giant Food (Ahold), Fresh Direct, Blue Apron. She had been working as a brand marketing consultant for NYAS.

While consulting at NYAS, Fitzgerald orchestrated the launch of NYAS new consumer brand, Yes! Apples.

As vice president of marketing, she will continue her efforts with the new consumer brand, including all brand touchpoints: web site social media, influencers, partnerships, public relations, both trade and consumer, packaging and events. She will also coordinate all marketing and promotional activities with the managed variety groups for the club apples that NYAS markets.

Fitzgerald and her husband, Owen, have traveled the world extensively.

Fitzgerald is an avid marathoner completing 13 races, including New York City, Chicago, London, Berlin,and Paris.

Jim Allen and Tenley Allen Fitzgerald. Photos: New York Apple Sales