The Oppenheimer Group has announced in a press release the appointment of a new senior sales representative Charlene Vettergreen to the company’s Calgary, Alberta, sales office.
Ms Vettergreen joined the group in early March and represents the full line of Oppenheimer products to retail and wholesale customers in the Canadian Prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Northwestern Ontario.
“We are pleased to have someone of Charlene’s energy and intelligence on our team,” said John Anderson, Oppenheimer’s president, chairman and CEO. “She brings her more than 18 years of direct sales experience to our company that includes the consumer packaged goods, computer software and fresh produce industries.”
After graduating with honors with a bachelor’s of commerce degree in marketing from the University of Manitoba, Ms Vettergreen cut her teeth in the early 1990s with Hershey Canada Ltd. of Mississauga, Ontario, and Quaker Oats Co. of Canada Ltd. in Peterborough, Ontario.
She then joined Sunkist Growers Inc. of Toronto, where she stayed for eight years and advanced to be the district manager for Western Canada based in Calgary.
After completing a boot-camp style training program in Object Oriented Software Technology at the University of Calgary, Ms Vettergreen took a brief hiatus from sales in 2003-04.
She ventured into Web site development as a programmer/analyst for Smart Technologies, Inc., a Calgary-based interactive technology firm that designs educational presentation equipment.
But she returned to sales in late 2004 when she became the Southern Alberta territory manager for Woodbridge, Ontario-based Ganz Inc. — the makers of the popular Webkinz plush toys.
Ms Vettergreen said she enjoyed the troubleshooting and the strong customer service aspects of being a programmer/analyst, but sitting behind a monitor all day did not suit her style, and she missed the frequent interpersonal interaction involved in sales.
“I am happiest when I am selling a product I believe in,” she concluded. “I am thrilled to be back in the fresh produce industry.”
