Just 21 years old and barely into college, Debbie Willmann started at Index Fresh Oct. 21, 1990, as an accounting temp with plans of pursuing a career as a CPA. Fast forward 30 years, and Willmann is now the director of sales and a key team member at Index Fresh, a leading California-based avocado company.

As the new sales director at Mission Produce, Brooke Becker is responsible for managing outside purchases and utilization of product. Her responsibilities include analyzing volume trends that impact North American retail, wholesale, and foodservice businesses, and guiding domestic sales staff on price and market conditions.

Avocados From Mexico is launching a campaign kickoff with sportscasters Troy Aikman and Erin Andrews to inspire shoppers to take their love of game day guac to the next level. AFM's first-ever in-store celebrity shopper engagement program is available to all grocery retailers and features free POS merchandising solutions — starring Aikman and Andrews — and a QR code contest for AFM fans to have a chance to win $1 million and other cash prizes.

Oppy has recently acquired a 65 percent stake in Eco Farms, a leading avocado grower since 1972 and one of the first to grow and market organic avocados in the U.S.

By every measure, 2020 has been a very challenging year so far, but the avocado is emerging relatively unscathed, seemingly deserving of the descriptor that it is “pandemic proof.”

On Thursday, Oct. 1, Oxnard, CA-based Mission Produce Inc. began its journey as a public company with the initial public offering  of 8 million share of its common stock on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol AVO. The IPO opened at $12 and closed on its first day at $13.80, an initial one-day gain of 15 percent.