United Fresh Produce Association has named Mary Coppola as its new senior director, marketing communications. Coppola will lead the association’s member communications and marketing functions, filling the position formerly held by Ray Gilmer.
Coppola, who began work on Monday, was most recently director of marketing and creative services at the Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA) based in Arlington, Virginia, where she oversaw communication and marketing functions relating to event, product, services and membership marketing. She joined HDMA in 2008 as manager of creative services.
“I’m excited to have Mary join our team at United Fresh,” said UFPA president and CEO Tom Stenzel.“Mary will bring a fresh approach to our marketing and communications programmes, helping us to better connect with and serve our members and constituents across the fresh produce and floral sectors.”
Prior to her work at HDMA, Coppola managed a design consultancy offering brand services to clients such asArmstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia, CaroLinks, Inc. in Charleston, South Carolina, and BFG Communications in Bluffton, South Carolina, in addition to numerous small businesses in real estate and food and beverage industries along the Atlantic coast corridor.
She has a master’s degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Coppola is a member of the American Marketing Association, the American Institute of Graphic Artists and the American Society of Association Executives. She has won numerous awards for creative marketing and advertising programmes and most recently assisted in the founding of the DC Creative Guild.
