New Marketing & Promotion Manager for California Pears (SACRAMENTO, CA - February 15, 2002) The California Pear Advisory Board (CPAB) is taking a new approach to its promotion of California Bartletts, and has restructured its promotion program execution responsibilities to include Christine Aguiar as their new Marketing and Promotions Manager. The Marketing and Promotions Manager is responsible for the development and management of marketing and promotion activities for all California Bartlett pears. This new position will encompass the functions of the former CPAB Director of Promotion and Special Marketing Programs Manager positions. Additionally, with the restructuring of employee responsibilities, CPAB hopes to increase program efficiency and reduce budget costs. Ms. Aguiar has been with the CPAB since 1999, as its Special Marketing Programs Manager, in which her duties included the development and execution of the marketing and promotion programs for processed pears and pears as ingredients, as well as the management of the foodservice program and public relations activities. Her responsibilities also included involvement with CPAB's fresh promotion program, assisting in projects such as industry communications, event coordination and trade communication. As part of the new program direction, CPAB has also hired marketing consultant Carolyn Becker to develop and execute CPAB's domestic promotion program for fresh California Bartlett pears. Ms. Becker will work closely with the CPAB merchandising team, consisting of Robin Lucky (West region), Barbara Glynn (Great Lakes region), David Anderson (Central region), Tom Flach (Southeast / Mid-Atlantic region) and Ken Berger (Northeast region & Canada), to implement the program with retail and wholesale accounts across the US. Ms. Becker has over fifteen years experience in the produce industry. Her background began in marketing and advertising with The Packer and Produce Merchandising publications, working directly with growers and shippers. For six years, she was the Central Region Merchandising Manager for the California Pear Advisory Board, California Kiwifruit Commission, California Cherry Advisory Board and Chilean Fresh Fruit Association. During that time, she was responsible for the presentation and maintenance of all promotional and merchandising programs for retail and wholesale accounts in the central U.S. The California Pear Advisory Board looks to broaden their promotion and merchandising programs to further increase consumption of pears. Category management, ripening education, packaging tests and direct consumer promotions are planned to build demand for California pears and the pear category, as well as increase retail sales. CPAB also handles the development and management of the domestic promotion program for California Bing Cherries. The staff changes will also assist in furthering the success of the California Bing Cherry program.