James V. Eade Email & Phone Number

Santa Monica, California, US

Directs all on & off shore sourcing and inbound logistical activities for direct farm inputs, indirect supplies and MRO for the network of Sensei Ag greenhouses.

Monterey, CA, US

• Managed multiple departments including Receiving, Shipping, Warehouse Operations, Scheduling and Purchasing for a union plant including a team of 6 salary employees and 72 hourly employees with budgetary.
• Developed strategies to reduce costs while simultaneously optimizing quality, customer focus, innovation, and supplier relationships to achieve vertical integration.
• Led the implementation of improvement strategies focused on balancing quality, cost & capacities in the following functional areas: raw material ordering, yield management, order attainment, and supply chain waste.
• Managed the annual spend, issue, and trace of $65M of raw materials and $94M of packaging & ingredients for the Soledad facility.
• Responsible for receiving, cooling & shipping operations of raw and finished goods coordinating seasonal equipment moves, balance maintenance events with harvest flow and plant capacities.
• Drafted and implemented Covid-19 protocols for suppliers and third-party deliveries of raw materials and ingredients.

Salinas, California, US

• (𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡-𝑈𝑝 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑠ℎ 𝐶𝑢𝑡 𝑉𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝐹𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑆𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 - $95𝑀𝑀 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠 – 225 𝐸𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑒𝑠)
• Managed all purchasing for the entire company, including MRO, packaging, and contractual obligations both short term and long term for the company overseeing a budget of $19.7M for operations and $4.9M for third party.
• Responsible for the supervision of 6 non-union employees in purchasing, safety, parts, and inventory management.
• Accountable for the standard cost budget and attaining the planned costs for ingredients and material and reporting costs to Finance.
• Oversaw all vendor/supplier relationships, including preparing bids, evaluating/qualify potential materials & equipment suppliers, negotiating agreements, and monitoring overall performance.
• Trained all new buyers in the art and methods of negotiating and purchasing commodity products and managing company repack and distribution center requirements, allowing the department to run efficiently and.

• Complete responsibility for a $5.8M P&L reporting to the ownership group overseeing food safety/quality control, maintenance, human resources, operations, and Finance.
• Hired and managed a team of 20 direct employees and 90 non-union indirect team members covering four 3PL cooler locations located in California and Arizona.
• Built and maintained strong working relationships with local growers/shippers, retailers, and foodservice distributors, negotiating all 3rd Party Handling and Cooling agreements, and monitoring overall quality and.
• Worked directly with Owner to understand financials and control costs in alignment with the fiscal budget while maintaining service levels.
• Facilitated transparency and productivity by communicating cross-functionally with customers and serving as a key point of contact in providing information, solutions, and assistance.
• Participate weekly in customer sales meetings, functioning as a point of contact for any operational or sales issues that may arise and ensuring proper labor coverage based on harvest estimates.

Salinas, CA, US

• Directed procurement and sourcing operations managing an annual spend of $35M for Ag Operations & Processing on supply agreements, leases, equipment, packaging, and services.
• Developed cost and quality improvements in the various harvest and post-harvest systems for Spring Mix, Spinach, Iceberg, and Romaine.
• Coordinated a new supplier agreement with corporate legal and risk management, managing vendor selection, qualification, negotiation of contracts, pricing, quality, and logistics

Étoy, Vaud, CH

• Managed an annual spend of $100M for Ag Operations raw product supply, freight, and packaging, including overseeing new product development cycle for raw products with seed companies, growers & custom harvesters to.
• Reduced spend for raw product packaging and freight by $ 9M across several different commodities packed, cooled, and shipped to five processing facilities in the U.S. Leveraged the RPC tote rental program, pay for it.
• Qualified and implemented a cored in field harvest process that improved overall finished goods product quality compared to conventional sources at a regional level.
• Coordinated the new product development cycle for packaging, leaf and vegetable varieties for retail and foodservice, interfacing with innovation, business development, and all production facilities for new product.
• Implemented several different conventional Romaine, Butter, Green Leaf, and Spinach harvest packs to improve yield and shelf-life performance at the regional processing facilities.
• Developed a cored cabbage program for a national QSR chain and launched multi-leaf cultivars from Rijk Zwan seeds.

Étoy, Vaud, CH

• Responsible for an annual spend of $75M managing all procurement activities related to plastics, condiments, and services leading cost reduction projects for all finished goods and raw material packaging.
• Conducted negotiations of major contracts with suppliers, both domestic and adding substantial contribution to the bottom line.
• Managed the RFP for the vertical form and fill roll stock spend of $35M for 5 processing plants.
• Estimated value of materials and or services according to the knowledge of market price determine the method of procurement.
• Coordinated the integration of Redi Cut & Fresh Advantage processing plants (4) into the Fresh Express procurement system.
• Identified, implemented, and tracked national cost reduction projects providing spend visibility to

Étoy, Vaud, CH

• Managed a team of 5 direct employees and 20 indirect team members overseeing the raw product shipping and receiving functions for the Fresh Express raw product system in three regional growing regions.
• Responsible for a $25M spend of all raw product containers, carton yards, and outside raw product suppliers on a national basis.

Étoy, Vaud, CH

• Managed three procurement specialists, three-cycle counters, and four warehouse supervisors overseeing the procurement of all packaging materials and outside services for the processing plant.
• Implemented a perpetual inventory system for finished goods, packaging, and components.

• Interfaced with livestock lending institution account managers with livestock valuations, budgets, and breakeven analysis.
• Received and relocated 12K beef cattle for internal and external customers in California, Arizona, and Hawaii.