At the midway point of 2022, WG Women reached a significant milestone: There are now more than 100 women participating in the leadership development program.
The mission statement of WG Women is to identify and prepare women in production agriculture for positions of leadership with Western Growers and the fresh produce industry. Through virtual and in-person trainings, mentoring and network events, the group envisions a fresh produce industry that reflects the value of women in production agriculture and promotes women to the highest levels of company and industry leadership.
Recent training events have included Arbinger Leadership Training, Performance Coaching: Learn How to Lead Employees to Succeed and Social Media Training, which used a proprietary Social Media Toolkit developed by Western Growers. Upcoming trainings in 2022 are DiSC—Productive Conflict in addition to Advocacy and Media Relations trainings and a rollout event to welcome WG Women members in California’s Central Coast. All training and events are free to WG Women members, an estimated annual savings of $3,000 in professional development costs.
For the women who participate in the program, dedication and investment in these trainings lead to recognition. Once accepted into the program, WG Women must complete a minimum of 36 program hours to earn an official certificate of completion.
To date, three women have achieved a certificate of completion and were recognized at the 2021 Western Growers Annual Meeting: Lacy Litten, Operations Manager of Teixeira Farms; Heather Mulholland, COO of Mulholland Citrus; and Sarah McClarty, CFO of HMC Farms. With 34 program hours to date, Marisol Moreno, Controller at Allied Potato, is very close to completing enough program credits and on track to be recognized within the next year.
Participation in WG Women is limited to employees of WG member companies, and participants are admitted following formal acceptance of the program application. To apply for WG Women and join the 100 women who have taken advantage of this member benefit, please visit www.wga.com/services/wg-women.
