Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Citrus promotion post goes to insider with deep roots

Ken Keck's family, which once operated a packing business, still owns groves.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
Published May 18, 2006

LAKELAND - The Florida Department of Citrus' governing board Wednesday selected its general counsel to head an agency charged with promoting the state's $9-billion citrus industry.

Florida citrus commissioners unanimously appointed Ken O. Keck, 39, to serve as executive director of the department, which has 72 employees and a proposed $66-million budget for the coming fiscal year.

Keck has been general counsel and director of government relations for the citrus department since August 2002. Before that, he served more than two years as director of legislative and regulatory affairs for Florida Citrus Mutual, the state's largest growers' group.

Keck's roots in citrus run deep. His family operated a citrus packing business from 1942 until 2000, and he owns 70 acres of citrus with a brother and sister in Highlands County.

"The job's a tremendous opportunity,'' Keck said. "I believe in the mission of the department and I believe I bring the experience and context to understand what pressures growers face."

Keck replaces Dan Gunter, who resigned effective April 16 to become chief executive of Alico Inc., a La Belle-based agribusiness. Gunter served two separate stints as executive director for a total of nearly eight years.

Keck was one of six finalists for the post, and one of two from within the agency. Mike Sparks, who served as the department's interim executive director, also was a finalist.

"The cream had really risen to the top,'' said Andy Taylor, commission chairman. "There were five outstanding candidates. ... It made the vote very difficult."

A search committee cut the list of six finalists to just Keck and Daniel Hunter, a Texas resident who heads the Southwestern Peanut Growers Association. The committee voted 3-to-2 to recommend Keck to the full commission.

Taylor said some members of the search committee thought appointing an agency insider would provide much-needed continuity for the agency.

Keck's salary, expected to exceed $100,000, is yet to be negotiated.

Other finalists were Timothy O'Connor of Denver, chief of the U.S. Potato Board; Jeff Manning of Orinda, Calif., executive director of the California Milk Processors Board; and Dennis Crawford of Williamsburg, Va., a former vice president of marketing for a firm in Newport News and former vice president of retail marketing for Perdue Farms.

In other business, the department unveiled a proposed $66-million budget for the fiscal year starting July 1. The budget would increase the tax growers pay on each box of oranges used to make juice by 35 percent, from 18.5 to 25 cents.

The budget also increases the per-box tax on fresh grapefruit by 60 percent, from 25 to 40 cents. The tax on each box of grapefruit used to make grapefruit juice would increase by 67 percent, from 24 to 40 cents.

"The first reaction is sticker shock," said Taylor, commission chairman.

The department says the increases are necessary because next year's crop is expected to be diminished because of lingering hurricane damage and diseases that harm citrus. The taxes are offset by higher profits many growers are enjoying because of a supply shortage. The budget will be presented to various industry groups before it is finalized in June.

William R. Levesque can be reached at levesque@sptimes.com or 813 226-3436.

[Last modified May 18, 2006, 06:30:13]