Fresh Thyme Farmers Markets, a new specialty grocer featuring healthy and organic value-priced offerings, announced the Midwest chain will open over 60 new stores and create approximately 5,000 new jobs throughout the Midwest over the next five years.

The company’s first market will open in Mt. Prospect, IL, this spring, followed by eight more grand openings throughout the remainder of this year.

Produce for Kids, a philanthropically based organization that raises funds for local children’s non-profit organizations and brings the produce industry together to educate consumers about healthy eating with fresh produce, has named Amanda Keefer as its new director of marketing communications.

The Produce Marketing Association Foundation for Industry Talent has recently announced the third annual Tip Murphy Scholarship for Leadership Excellence recipients for 2013. Tony Harmon of Nathel International and Juliette King of Nielsen Perishables Group were selected by the PMA Foundation and the Scholarship Selection Committee. The scholarship is part of the PMA Foundation’s initiative to establish a workforce with the diverse skills necessary to meet the complex demands of business.

Ayco Farms has hired Dale Chase as executive vice president of sales and marketing with the objective of transforming the company’s current retail dynamic and diversifying retail sales and foodservice programs.

Chase is tasked with leading and directing the sales department in an effort to enhance buyer relations, strengthen category management support and expand business solutions.

In mid-January, Michael Warren, president of Central American Produce in Pompano Beach, FL, told The Produce News that the company was currently importing papaya, green onions, leeks, radicchio and bunched radishes from Guatemala.

“Our okra program from Honduras is also running,” said Warren. “Cantaloupes, honeydew melons, seedless watermelons, specialty melons, butternut squash, spaghetti squash and acorn squash are coming in from both Guatemala and Honduras.”

Central American is also moving pineapples from Costa Rica.

Having just returned from his association’s 52nd annual U.S. Sweet Potato Convention, on Jan. 24 Charlie Walker, the executive secretary of the U.S. Sweet Potato Council Inc., reported his board’s decisions on promotions for the coming year.  

The meeting was held Jan. 19-22 in New Orleans.

Walker, whose office is in Columbia, SC, reported that his board has elected to continue its participation of the American Heart Association’s “Heart-Check Mark” campaign.