Bio statements from the Board Members

ADEL A. KADER is Professor Emeritus of Postharvest Physiology in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of California at Davis. Dr. Kader's activities included mentoring graduate students and postdoctoral researches, participation in teaching several courses on postharvest physiology and technology of horticultural crops and extension of information to producers, handlers, and consumers. He published more than 230 technical publications and edited and co-authored a book on Postharvest Technology of Horticultural Crops. He is the Technical Editor of the UCDavis Postharvest Internet Site (http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu), which receives more than 250,000 hits per month. He has served as a consultant on strategies for maintaining quality and reducing postharvest losses of horticultural perishables both within the U.S. and in many other countries, including Chile, China, Egypt, Ghana, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand, and Philippines. He served as a member of the Editorial Boards of several scientific journals, the Scientific Advisory Council of the World Food Logistics Organization, the Research Advisory Board of the Produce for Better Health Foundation, and the California Citrus Quality Council. Dr. Kader received awards for outstanding teaching in 1989 and for distinguished graduate mentoring in 2003 from the University of California at Davis and for best research publications in 1978 and 1980 from the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS). He was elected a fellow of ASHS in 1986, President-elect in 1995, President in 1996, and Chairman of the Board of Directors in 1997. He was selected as the Outstanding Horticulturist of 1997 by the Horticultural Research Center at Laval University, Quebec, Canada. In October, 2000 Dr. Kader received the “Award of Distinction” from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the “Alumni Citation for Excellence” from the Cal Aggie Alumni Association at UCDavis. In April, 2010 he received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Cartagena in Spain.

LISA KITINOJA has been involved as a private consultant in international horticultural development work since the 1980s as owner of the firm Extension Systems International (ESI), and has been specializing in postharvest technology, food loss reduction and the extension of information on small-scale postharvest handling practices since 1992. She is currently serving as Senior Technical Advisor for the World Food Logistics Organization, where she led the 2009-10 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded Appropriate Postharvest Technology Planning Project. Also with WFLO she was involved in designing and implementing a series of USTDA funded Cold Chain Management Workshops for India (2007-08) and is currently co-leading a USAID funded HORT CRSP pilot project for development of a Postharvest Training and Services Center in Rwanda (2010-13).

Dr. Kitinoja is currently the owner of the consulting firm Cooperative Ventures (CV), and the Founder of The Postharvest Education Foundation, a non-profit corporation in the state of Oregon. She currently works with extension workers, scientists, postharvest professionals and graduate students in the USA, Zambia, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Tanzania, India and Nepal and offers online mentoring for young postharvest professionals via the website www.postharvest.org and the micro-blog webpage http://postharvest.tumblr.com. As Principal Consultant of ESI and CV, she has recently consulted on horticultural projects for Agland Investments, DAI and Winrock International where she designed small scale packinghouses for fruits and vegetable crops in Indonesia and Cape Verde, and contributed on topics of postharvest technology to the USAID publication "Empowering Agriculture: Energy Options for Horticulture". She served as a member of the Capacity Building Virtual Working Group for the Global Horticulture Initiative (2007-08), and participated in the Global Horticultural Assessment (2004-05). She was the leader of strategic planning for the development of several new horticultural research and educational programs at universities, including the first of the UC RICS, the Vegetable Research and Information Center (VRIC) at UC Davis in the USA, Punjab Agricultural University in India, and ICARDA in Syria. She has written a wide variety of postharvest extension and training materials, including manuals with colleagues at the University of California, Davis and served as a technical reviewer for the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). She developed and implemented “train the trainer” educational programs in postharvest handling for public and private sector trainers working with fruit and vegetable growers, handlers and marketers in all the fore-mentioned countries as well as in Morocco, Senegal, Benin, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Chad.

CATHY KITINOJA has worked since 1999 with the Woodland school district in California as a classroom assistant and learning tutor for grades K-6. She served as Executive Secretary, Extension Systems International during more than 10 years, organizing and implementing agricultural training and study tours for international visitors to California from India, Egypt and Lebanon. Ms Kitinoja visited the Tibetan Medicine Institute in northern India with Dr. Kitinoja in 2006 for an postharvest loss assessment and training program on improving herbal crop handling, drying and storage practices.

DIANE M. BARRETT is a Cooperative Extension Specialist in the UC Davis Department of Food Science & Technology. At U.C. Davis, Diane conducts extension educational courses for the fruit and vegetable processing industry and carries out applied research. She is currently the lead PI of a USAID funded HORT CRSP pilot project for development of a Postharvest Training and Services Center in Rwanda (2010-13).
Extension courses include the Advanced Process Technologies Course, Better Process Control School, Freezing Technology Workshop, Juice Processing Course, Tomato Processing School, Fresh-Cut Products Workshop and Aseptic Processing & Packaging Workshop. Her research focuses on the effects of raw materials and processing conditions on the quality of fruit and vegetable products. Dr. Barrett is particularly interested in the relationship between endogenous enzymes and the color, texture, taste, aroma and nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables. She currently directs the Center for Advanced Processing & Packaging. When she is not harvesting tomatoes or processing fruit, Diane enjoys swimming, kayaking and traveling with her family.

SYMANTHA A. HOLBEN is a Cultural Anthropologist who has worked in international development for more than 10 years as a program manager, analyst, grants manager and researcher. Dr. Holben has a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the Catholic University of America. In her current position as Agricultural Program Manager with Fintrac Inc., she applies anthropological approaches to project implementation and day to day problem-solving in the field. She also holds a Master's degree in Cultural Anthropology with a focus on Agriculture and Natural Resource Management from Catholic University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University. She has devoted the past 10 years to developing and implementing donor funded programs in agriculture, food security, natural resource management, labor policy, institutional development, alternative development and public health. Her field experience includes working on both short and long term assignments in Latin America and Africa - Bolivia, Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Benin, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Mali, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, and Uganda.

PATRICK D. BROWN is co-owner of Sonora Pacific Group, Inc. From 2008-2010, he served as Assistant Project Manager under
Agland Investment Services, Inc. for Millennium Challenge Account-Cape Verde, West Africa. His responsibilities included managing a Training of Trainers program for 53 Ministry of Agriculture Extension Agents on three outlying islands in the Cape Verde Archipelago. The modular training courses included: Postharvest practices; Drip irrigation design, installation & management; Agronomic aspects of growing under drip irrigation; Access to micro-credit; Starting small agri-businesses; Market Information Systems. This MCC funded project included the introduction of a cold chain in Cape Verde with the construction and start-up of a postharvest training and services center and the privatization of the facility.

DEVON ZAGORY has a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of California, Berkeley and has worked extensively as a consultant to the produce industry for more than 20 years. Dr. Zagory is an internationally recognized scientist in the fields of food microbiology and post harvest handling of fresh fruits and vegetables. He has been the co-chair of the Technical Committee of the International Fresh-cut Produce Association and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Third Edition of the IFPA Food Safety Guidelines for the Fresh-cut Produce Industry. A veteran speaker and author, he wrote the chapter on Modified Atmosphere Packaging for the Wiley Encyclopedia of Packaging as well as numerous scientific publications and industry bulletins dealing with fresh-cut microbial safety, packaging, quality and operations. He has served as the Executive Director of the Center for Produce Safety at the University of California, Davis, and is currently Senior Vice President, Food Safety & Quality Programs, NSF Agriculture.