• TPM24
  • March 3-6, 2024 | Long Beach Convention Center

Craig Stauffer

The Vanguard International Group

CEO

Craig Stauffer is the Chief Executive Officer of The Vanguard International Group and a founding partner of Vanguard International. Vanguard has been procuring, marketing, selling, and distributing fresh fruit and vegetables in North America, Asia, Europe, LatAm, the Middle East, and other global markets for over 30 years with offices in the USA, Chile, Peru, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Africa, and Europe. Craig studied International Economics and Political Science at the University of Oregon before working as a Trade Specialist for the International Trade Commission at the US Department of Commerce. Craig was Vice President of International Operations at Fresh Western Marketing in Salinas, California, then President at Food Products International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Food Services of America, before leaving to found Vanguard in 1991. In 2015, Vanguard joined forces with New York-based agri-focused investment fund Blue Road Capital to establish The Vanguard International Group LP to continue to grow the group’s existing “core businesses” with long-established grower and customer partners, while at the same time to acquire best-in-class production assets to build a vertically integrated, 52-week supply solution for its customers around the world.

Sessions With Craig Stauffer

Tuesday, 28 February

  • 03:15pm - 04:00pm (PST) / 28/feb/2023 11:15 pm - 01/mar/2023 12:00 am

    Cool Cargoes III: Shippers Sound Off on the Need for Solutions
    Perishables, frozen, and other types of refrigerated shippers can’t seem to catch a break. For two years, they watched — at times helplessly and at great harm to their businesses — as ocean carriers bypassed their traditionally high-paying cargoes in favor of less-complicated dry shipments as freight rates skyrocketed across-the-board. Now that dry shipping rates have retreated to nearly pre-pandemic levels, other issues have emerged for refrigerated shippers, and other problems remain unresolved. Some shippers have gotten creative – turning to specialized breakbulk ships when containerized capacity wasn’t available, for example. Cargo visibility, spoilage, and sustainable solutions are still lacking, although help appears to be on the way in the form of increasing investment at ports, in warehouses, and in technology. This session will feature a number of prominent importers and exporters in a roundtable discussion that aims to answer the question: What do shippers want, and at what cost?
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