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Okanagan Specialty Fruits appoints vice president

Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc. (OSF), the developer of the Arctic apple varieties, announced the promotion of Jenn Armen to vice president. Armen has been with OSF since 2010 in a multitude of capacities and has been overseeing business development and marketing activities for the company.

“As OSF continues to grow at a rapid pace we felt it was necessary to expand the executive team, and Jenn has certainly proven herself to be an integral part of our company over the years,” states Neal Carter, president and founder of OSF. “It’s extremely exciting to see the company grow like this and I am very certain of our business success with the strong leadership team we have in place.”

Armen, a 30-year veteran in the specialty crops arena, was an integral part of the commercialization efforts of Arctic Golden apples in select U.S. supermarkets this past fall. Her extensive career has included working in crop protection to develop the first commercially introduced biological control product for the post harvest industry, managing food safety and quality assurance programs for produce and specialty foods, and working in the vegetable seed industry on products that garnered attention from the entire supply chain about the value of genetics. Armen, who is a trained botanist, mycologist and plant pathologist, also ran her own consulting company for a number of years.

“I look forward to continuing our production and commercialization efforts with Arctic apples and develop creative ways to improve the produce experience,” explained Armen. “I am honored to work with such a highly skilled team.”