Homestead Packing House Vice President Adds Belize Operations to His Duties

The official announcement and press release have gone out, Billy Pritchett has been named Brooks Tropicals Vice President of Operations. I took a few minutes out of Billy’s hectic schedule this morning to get his take on the promotion and what he hopes to accomplish in his new role.

Mary: What are your plans?
Billy: My plan is to continue working side-by-side with Brooks’ great management team in Belize. Our common goal is to deliver the best quality papaya. To do that we have to be the best at growing, harvesting, packing and distributing.

M: How do you hope to accomplish that?
B: Motivating everyone to continually achieve that common goal is my job. It’s a team effort that goes into effect every time a harvester picks a papaya from the tree, a packer puts the fruit in the box, and a trucker delivers the box to the customer.

My work can only be as good as the people I work with. And lucky me, I’m the head coach of a great team. We’ve got a game plan that makes any problem an opportunity.

M: What do you like about your job?
B: I love to beat the hell out of my competition. The best way to do that is to stay three steps ahead.

M: What do you like about working at Brooks?
B: I’m proud of what this company has done. Continually making high marks in food safety audits, recovering from devastating hurricanes, becoming the largest importer of papayas into the U.S. –all make a short list of what Brooks Tropicals has accomplished in the past and it’s only a precursor to what we’ll do in the future.

M: Any parting comments?
B: Life is good, not easy, but good.

Billy is married to Jessica, who is Product Coordinator in our Sales Department.
Billy has three daughters. One daughter, Kristen is an Administrative Assistant at Brooks.