Davide Vernocchi has been named as the new president of Italian group Apo Conerpo, Europe's largest fresh fruit and vegetable producer organisation, after the company's board voted unanimously in favour of his appointment.
Mr Vernocchi, who has been vice-president of Apo Conerpo for the past eight years, succeeds Paolo Bruni, who earlier this month confirmed plans to step down as president after 16 years in the role.
Meanwhile, Roberto Cera, president of Apo Conerpo subsidiary company Naturitalia and vice-president of Ferrara-based cooperative Patfrut, has been named as Mr Vernocchi's deputy.
Commenting on his new appointment, Mr Vernocchi said he was determined to engender a spirit of teamwork an cooperation to strengthen Apo Conerpo's commercial standing.
'I'm taking on this important tole at a particularly difficult time for the food industry and for the economy in general, so I will respond to the faith shown in me by working to the best of my ability to guarantee further development of Apo Conerpo's fruit and vegetable business.'
He continued: 'I will work closely with vice-president Roberto Cera, the entire board and the member cooperatives to pursue a unified, cohesive strategy which must characterise the entire group.
'Only through an effective team approach and a sharing of ideas can we achieve growth in our cooperatives and the industry as a whole, growth which is essential to meet future challenges successfully and to ensure satisfactory economic returns for member producers that reward the hard work they put in every day.'
Apo Conerpo, which operates via two business units, Agrintesa and Naturitalia, markets a total of 1.1m tonnes of fresh produce every year and has a combined annual turnover of €685m.
The producer organisation currently has around 7,000 members based throughout Italy, as well as 45 member cooperatives, 5,000 employees and 200 technical staff.
Mr Vernocchi is also president of Italian producer organisations union Unaproa, a position he took up in summer 2008.
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