Pace Postharvest Academy Event

Scott Christie, Sr. Global Applications & Engineering Services Manager, Pace International

Scott oversees Pace’s global engineering services, developing innovative technology solutions, supporting customer’s high-quality standards, and meeting the changing needs of the industry. His responsibilities include overseeing ecoFOG applications and working with Pace’s account managers to ensure packing line equipment is functioning as efficiently and safely as possible. Scott has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and has experience in postharvest fruit packaging, storage and automation technologies, tree fruit production, postharvest quality control, and field agriculture.

David Felicetti, Sr. Manager, R&D and Regulatory Affairs, Pace International

Dr. David Felicetti is currently the Pre/Post harvest Physiologist at Pace International where he investigates the Preharvest and Postharvest physiology of a wide range of commodities (pome, stone, citrus and tubers) with the goal of improving fruit quality, storability, and shelf-life. Dr. Felicetti received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Horticulture from Washington State University where he investigated the preharvest and postharvest physiological effects of pre harvest exposure of apples to high temperature and high light stress on apples and the formation of apple sunburn.

Andrew Desmond (Des) O’Rourke, President, Belrose, Inc.

Dr Des O’Rourke is a native of Ireland. He has undergraduate degrees in Classics from Queen’s University, Belfast and in Commerce from University College, Dublin, and M.A. and PhD degrees in agricultural economics from the University of California, Davis. He was on the Agricultural Economics faculty at Washington State University, Pullman from 1970 to 2000, specializing in marketing of fresh apples, pears and sweet cherries, and headed WSU’s international marketing (IMPACT) Center between 1985 and 2000. He founded his own consulting company, Belrose, Inc. in 1994, and ran it full-time since May 2000. Belrose, Inc. specializes in global fruit market analyses

Des is author or editor of numerous books, chapters in books, refereed journal articles and popular articles and has made presentations on fruit marketing in many countries. He has served on the Washington State Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors under five successive governors. He and his wife Sheila have been married since 1964 and have three children and four grandchildren.

Faith Critzer, Associate Professor, Department of Food Science & Technology, University of Georgia.

Faith Critzer is an Associate Professor and Produce Safety Extension Specialist at Washington State University in the School of Food Science. Faith joined WSU in January of 2018 and is based at the Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser, WA. Her extension program is focused on providing science-based recommendations and training to farms and packinghouses so they can develop robust food safety programs. Annually, her produce safety extension program accounts for >5,600 contact hours with industry stakeholders. She also actively conducts food safety and food microbiology research and is especially interested in the microbiological safety concerns tied to preharvest and postharvest handling of produce.

Ines Hanrahan, Executive Director, Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission

Dr. Hanrahan provides administrative leadership, oversight of WTFRC staff, and contributes to strategic planning for the WTFRC. She is fostering public-private partnerships with tree fruit scientists worldwide, is highly dedicated to connecting with NextGen industry professionals, and to setting a positive example for an increasingly diverse global work force. Her interest in farming is not only part of her roots, education, and work. Her family owns and operates a commercial tree fruit orchard in the Yakima valley.