November 2019 Letter From CEO Sam Bugarsky

There’s been a lot of change at Wilco and HGO these past few years and I want to take this opportunity to reassure you that our business units are well-positioned for the future.

First, with the recent and sudden leadership change, please know that our momentum will not slow down. We have an excellent leadership team in place and our success is now and has always been mostly driven by our 900+ passionate and dedicated employees. We’ve never been a top-driven company.

Know that we have the best thought-out and most detailed strategic plan in place since I started, more than 25 years ago. The strategic planning process started 6 months ago with our thoughtful Board of Directors and included input from more Wilco employees than ever before.

This plan begins by highlighting our mission, purpose and core values, which will remain unchanged.

Our HGO-hazelnut business, right at this critical harvest season includes our strongest team ever and I’m not just referring to the excellent and experienced HGO leadership but also the HGO administration, sales, and production teams. These teams along with the most advanced processing plant in North America, the surging new hazelnut supply from recent tree plantings and a sound strategy as the only grower-owner cooperative in this business are certain to succeed. We’re more ready for this harvest season than ever before.

Lastly, our Valley Ag partnership business is coming off a great year. The former Wilco-Winfield western division here, while just 28% of the Valley Ag business, stood out with the best performance against plan in all of Valley Ag. This strategic partnership is especially critical to our membership and both Valley Ag and Wilco will benefit from improved cooperation going forward.

There have been significant changes at Wilco these last few years, but know that our Board of Directors and the leadership team here are fully committed to and very confident in your and Wilco’s success.

Sam Bugarsky, President and CEO