American Pecan Council and American Pecan Promotion Board Together Announce New CEO
Anne Warden brings deep experience in agricultural marketing and building future-ready organizations.
“The American Pecan Council has helped reawaken many Americans—and increasingly consumers in key global markets—to the incredible versatility and nutrition of pecans,” said Larry Don Womack, chair of the APC. “With so many more opportunities to grow our industry, Anne is the leader with the marketing experience and business vision to take us to the next level.”
“Over the past two years, we’ve built a strong foundation for delivering consistent value back to the growers and importers who created the American Pecan Promotion Board,” said David Salopek, chair of the APPB. “Anne’s track record for unifying the supply chain around shared business opportunities and then delivering results makes her the CEO [that] Pecans now needs to accelerate our market share growth.”
Anne Warden spent the past four years working for Dairy Management, Inc., the organization that oversees the national dairy research and promotion program and its affiliated organizations on behalf of America’s nearly 30,000 dairy farmers and importers. In her leadership role as Group Executive Vice President of Marketing, Communication and Affairs, she was responsible for growing consumption of dairy through consumer marketing campaigns, strategies to strengthen U.S. dairy’s reputation and efforts to engage customers, thought leaders, and health professionals around dairy’s nutrition and sustainability efforts. In addition, she led business planning across more than 20 of Dairy Management’s other farmer-funded organizations to collectively position dairy’s reputation and relevance with consumers while also bringing new marketing and technology capabilities to the industry. Prior to dairy, Anne was an Executive Vice President for the agency Edelman and a Chief of Staff for a member of Congress.
“I am honored to bring my experience to an industry so primed for growth and so willing to align against shared priorities,” Anne said. “The all-natural nutrition and taste of pecans paired with the sustainability as North America’s only native nut provides so many ways to win share with today’s changing consumer. I’m looking forward to listening closely to the industry and carving a clear path to bring new value and increased usage occasions to this powerful product.”
Anne Warden begins as CEO on Oct. 1 and, as CEO, replaces Executive Director Alex Ott. Both boards share a deep appreciation for Alex’s dedicated work on behalf of the pecan industry since 2018 and expect a smooth transition.
