Mike Martori
Mike Martori manages Stella’s sales and production teams in order to expand their growing programs and ensure that customers’ expectations are being met. This involves deciding which produce items should be grown and when and how much should be grown to meet customers’ needs. He also communicates with the sales team to let them know how particular crops are doing in order to keep customers informed as to the market and supply for each item.
Mike’s favorite thing about working at Stella Farms is their ambitious team that is dedicated to working together to produce the best results they can. He says their team is full of aggressive, intelligent, and collaborative individuals who challenge each other every day to do a better job and be successful as a group.
An interesting fact about Mike is that his family has been in the farming business for more than 100 years, and he’s among the fifth generation working in the produce business today. When he’s not working, he enjoys mountain biking, backpacking, and traveling.
Chloe Albright
Chloe Albright is Stella Farms’ Director of Business Development and her concentration is on East Coast customers as she’s based out of Philadelphia, PA. She is responsible for creating and maintaining relationships with both new and old customers, making sure they are happy with Stella Farms’ level of service. She works closely with each commodity manager so that she can quickly communicate any news to the buyers she talks with.
Chloe’s favorite part about working at Stella Farms is the feeling that she has a second family. She continuously feels challenged and is always presented with opportunities to learn from the group of top-notch people she works with. She is passionate about all things produce and this group inspires her to do her best every day.
Outside of work, Chloe can often be found spending time with her family and any of her friends that live in Philadelphia! She enjoys cooking as well as trying new restaurants in her city. She recently helped to organize a book club where once a month she meets at a new restaurant with 12 other girls to discuss the previous month’s read!
Austin Mackey
Austin Mackey is one of Stella Farms’ account managers, and he handles taking and creating orders, calling customers with updates, and connecting with potential new customers.
He says the best thing about working at Stella Farms is the team itself and the unique diversity each of them brings to the work environment that makes working together so much fun.
When Austin isn’t at work, you can find him golfing or playing with his Australian Cattle Dog, Boomer.
Wayne Szabla
Wayne was born and raised in Chicago, IL – still residing in the city to this day. He has been in the produce industry for 50 years now with much of that time focused specifically on watermelons. Wayne’s experience in the industry began in college when he worked as a driver making deliveries from the Chicago Terminal Market to chain stores. After graduation Wayne and his wife Denise started their own produce business which they continued for 43 years before he joined our Stella Farms team.
Wayne is part of Stella Farms sales team, as he works with various growers throughout the country to help meet Stella Farms’ customers’ needs in supplying major retailers across the United States. In his spare time, Wayne enjoys working out and playing flag football with his family, which includes two daughters and four grandkids. One of Wayne’s favorite things about Stella Farms is working with Mike Martori and the energetic sales team in maintaining Stella’s position as one of the premier watermelon firms in the industry.
Peter White
Peter White is Stella’s director of European operations, and he works at their office in Budapest overseeing their expansion into the European market. His role includes pioneering and solidifying short and long term relationships with European customers, bringing existing items from Central and South America to their markets, and adding new items to the Stella portfolio as opportunities are presented. He spends his days developing new business, setting up operations, and pursuing new business for Stella. With more than 25 years in the produce industry, he has extensive experience in fresh, canned, and frozen foods, and he knows how to get the right people the right product with no surprises!
Peter joined the team at Stella because of the exceptional people who are a part of it. He appreciates their integrity, focus, and unparalleled work ethic that produce a strong synergy and chemistry within the company.
Outside of work, Peter loves sports, especially scuba diving and cycling. Throughout his life he’s traveled to more than 65 countries, and he speaks four languages!
Johnny Garcia
Johnny Garcia is a member of Stella’s sales team based in McAllen, Texas. Johnny was born and raised is southwest Florida, the heart of many agriculture farms. At the young age of 30, he has over 20 years in the produce industry. When Johnny was only 10 years old he began spending time in his grandfather’s produce farm and packinghouse where he learned about an array of products and every aspect of the produce industry from seed to store.
Johnny graduated high school in 2009 and after five years of college he decided it was time to make his way back to the produce business. He landed the role of a food safety manage where he handled all the food safety for the farm, packinghouse and repack line. After a year Johnny was promoted to assistant sales manager and eventually moved to California with another company where we was handling quality control and selling warm and dry vegetables. Over the last 20 years he has worked in multiple major shipping points including San Diego, Salinas, San Jaquan Valley, Nolages, McAllen, and Immokalee.
“If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,” holds true for Johnny at Stella Farms. We are a smaller group, but we are mighty here! Everyone here is like family to me.
Johnny enjoys spending time outdoors with his family when he’s not working. He spends a lot of time practicing sports and swimming with his two sons, Aiden and Juan. Cooking is his specialty whether it’s on the grill or in the kitchen he’s always ready to create something delicious!
Shane Aldrich
Shane Aldrich was born and raised in Scottsdale, AZ. He has been in the produce industry for seven years and has resided between Southern California and Arizona. Shane’s focus is primarily on watermelons, but has a background in citrus as well. Shane completed his Mechanical Engineering Degree at Arizona State University and worked for one year in Fire-Sprinkler Building Design before transitioning to the produce industry full-time. Shane works with various growers and shippers off the West Coast and runs the west coast melon program for Stella Farms. He also has a diverse customer base around the western United States and continues to expand his business. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with this wife, daughter, and dog, as well as golfing with his friends or going for jogs. He also enjoys watching football and MMA fights in his spare time. One of Shane’s favorite things about Stella Farms is working with Mike Martori and being encouraged to try new things and travel across the country to meet new customers.
Jake Erickson
Jake Erickson’s role at Stella Farms includes coordinating pineapple operations, expanding their family of farmers domestically and internationally, food safety operations, and helping with whatever projects and issues may arise throughout the course of a day. His philosophy is to be flexible, stay positive, and work hard.
His favorite thing about working at Stella Farms is that the team is a true work family.
Shawn Avera
Shawn Avera is Stella’s Director of Operations for the watermelon program, and he serves as the company’s eyes and ears on the farm level. He works on putting together all contracts and sourcing farms in each growing location on the East Coast, Mexico, and Arizona. Additionally, he sets deal parameters for farms, helps with fertility and fungicide programs, labor, and farm materials. He works hand in hand with Mike Martori, implementing his sales program with the farms that will grow the produce.
Shawn’s favorite thing about working at Stella Farms is the fantastic work culture—that it’s a big company in size but small in the sense of relationships—that everyone is like family. He also appreciates their transparency with growers and that everyone at Stella has a farming background and therefore shares their vision, riding the ups and downs with the farmers and changing and adapting with them.
Outside of work, Shawn enjoys spending time with his three kids. He is an avid outdoorsman, and his family enjoys spending time hiking, camping, fishing, and doing anything the outdoors offers!
Kody Plemmons
Kody assists the watermelon operation team on various fronts. He helps with quality control, growing operations, the packing house as well as outbound shipments. Kody’s favorite part about working at Stella Farms is the family-like atmosphere. Kody feels that everyone strives to help each other and make the absolute best of every situation day in and day out. While not working he enjoys archery hunting, fishing, grilling and spending time with his family.
Meagan Morgan
Meagan handles Stella Farms food safety, sustainability and social responsibility programs. She’s also part of the watermelon operations team assisting with quality control, packing house operations and inbound and outbound shipments. Meagan’s favorite part about working at Stella Farms is the undeniable teamwork and support everyone has for one another to assure we’re all successful in our rolls. Everyone keeps a positive attitude and has a hard work ethic. The Stella Farms team quickly becomes a second family.
Outside of work, Meagan enjoys running and playing with her two sons! She also enjoys spending time on the water boating and kayaking.
Wyatt Plemmons
Wyatt is part of the watermelon operations team helping with the various growing and packing house operations. He also assists in quality control and shipping. Wyatt enjoys the hustle and bustle that watermelon season brings and learning from some of the experts in the industry. When he’s not working you can find Wyatt hunting, fishing and spending time with his family.
Miguel Rivera
Miguel Rivera is part of our McAllen, Texas office team where he manages our growing operations in Mexico. His many duties include managing our current production facilities as well as developing new growers and products to service our customers in North America and Europe. Miguel’s main focus is to ensure that all products farmed by Stella Farms meet our strict quality standards, are produced in a sustainable and ethical manner, and provide value to everyone in our supply chain ensuring the long-term success of our programs.
Miguel is originally from Nayarit, Mexico and comes from a very tight-knit family. When he wasn’t in school or on summer vacations, he would spend his time working with his father on their family owned greenhouses that specialized in growing tomatoes. After finishing high school, he decided to get his college education in California graduating from Fresno State in 2008. During summers while in college, Miguel would work in different fruit packing houses in California to help pay for his educations and that’s where he found his love for the produce industry.
When not working, Miguel enjoys traveling and is passionate about exploring new places and experiencing the culture and history on his journeys.
Guillermo Aguilar
Guillermo Aguilar was born in Guanajuato, one of the most important agricultural areas in Mexico. He comes from a family of farmers and producers of poblano peppers. He is an Agronomist Engineer from the University of Chapingo, where he was a football player from high school until his last year of university. Guillermo holds a Master in Finance from the University of Aguascalientes and currently is completing a Master’s degree program in Ag business at the Universidad Panamericana.
Guillermo is responsible of generating new business relationships with growers in Mexico, maintaining and growing existing ones. Some of his main functions are to supervise and guarantee the quality of the products that are sent to our warehouse in Donna TX.
Breanne Prewitt
Breanne is located in the Scottsdale, AZ office. Her role within Stella Farms is to help manage the logistics of their pineapple production. This roles responsibilities include managing operations around the imports, exports, inventory, and additional obligations that may arise. She recently graduated from Arizona State University with her degree in Supply Chain Management. She utilizes this background to ensure that the systems and processes in place operate at maximum efficiency.
She first started at Stella Farms for a summer internship, and she ended up joining full-time because she appreciates Stella Farms’ family-like atmosphere. She says being valued as an employee and treated like family allows for exemplary communication to accomplish tasks.
Breanne likes to spend her free time with her pets or time outdoors. She enjoys camping and hiking with her family and friends.
Shahab Ghayour
Shahab Ghayour is handling all the importing/custom work involved with the pineapple farms in Costa Rica. He is responsible for ensuring orders are fulfilled and product is arriving to the customers in a timely manner.
Shahab’s favorite part about working at Stella Farms is that it is a true work family with everyone being friendly and kind. The team is always available and willing to help and answer any questions as needed.
Outside of work, Shahab enjoys spending time with family and friends. He likes to stay active and engages in hiking, working out, playing sports, and spending time at the beach.
Robert Ramirez
Robert Ramirez was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley. Robert brings over seven years of quality control experience on a variety of fruits and vegetables to the Stella Farms team. He spent three years as an USDA inspector. He is also part of the McAllen, TX operations team assisting with quality control, packing house operations and inbound and outbound shipments. When he is not working , Robert enjoys spending time with his family.
Wade Wilson
Wade Wilson is Stella Farms’ Controller, and he manages all facets of the accounting department. A typical day for Wade involves overseeing financial production and analysis, order adjustments, payment approvals, invoicing, PR processing and human resources. It’s Wade who keeps the business organized!
His favorite part about working at Stella Farms is the diversity of the team, being surrounded by the best and brightest in the industry, and the family-like culture they share together.
Outside of work, Wade’s passion and drive are his two young daughters.
Alan Eichman
Alan Eichman is Stella Farms’ Staff Accountant. While at work, Alan is in charge of handling the accounts payable and accounts receivable aspects of the accounting side of the business. As time permits Alan will take on other accounting related projects.
Alan’s favorite part about working for the company is the family-type atmosphere. The true cohesive bond between all of the coworkers makes it a very positive and enjoyable place to work.
In his free time Alan enjoys boxing, reading, and spending time with his family.
Lori Keegan
Lori Keegan is Stella Farms’ staff accountant and spends her time handling accounts receivables and special projects. She brings 24 years of experience in the agricultural industry and is a Certified Public Accountant. She is very excited to work with the friendly Stella Farms’ staff and looks forward to developing relationships with our business associates. In her spare time Lori enjoys spending time with her husband, daughters and grandchildren.
Jared Aguilar
Jared Aguilar is Stella’s logistics manager, and he makes sure that all deliveries get to the right customer on time and as expected. His days involve strategically planning and managing logistics and transportation; directing and coordinating full order cycle; negotiating with carriers and transportation providers; keeping track of delivery times, transport costs and efficiency; resolving problems/complaints; meeting cost and productivity targets; assessing performance; and complying with laws, regulations and DOT requirements.
Jared has extensive experience in logistics in numerous industries, but knew he wanted to join the produce industry with Stella as soon as he was interviewed. His goal was to find a company where he felt acknowledged and rewarded for his work, and he knew as soon as he met the smart, professional, and hard-working team at Stella that he had found the right place. He loves the family environment within the company that makes it fun to come to work every day, and the fact that everyone does everything they can to succeed as a team. He also enjoys when they grill out and play corn hole together!
In his spare time, Jared enjoys playing guitar, piano, and keeping entertained by listening to alien abduction podcasts!
Chris Elsie
Chris Elsie is the owner of Stella Farms, and his focus is always on making sure that the company is moving in the right direction. He does this by supporting his team and providing the direction and support they need in order to get the job done. He oversees all aspects of the company; from employees to growers and customers, he ensures that everyone has what they need in order to be successful. With more than 25 years in the produce industry, he brings a wealth of experience to the company and enjoys watching it grow and evolve.
Chris proudly boasts that Stella Farms has the best people in the business, which is not by accident. When the company looks to hire, they choose people who are not only skilled in their jobs, but those who also fit within the shared company culture. This shared culture and vision resonates with customers and growers who know that anyone who works for Stella Farms is trustworthy, professional, and extremely hard working. The culture that the team has built together is the thing Chris is the most proud of. He also enjoys the produce industry itself—the fact that it’s never boring, it’s always changing, and that it’s filled with exceptional, down to earth people who he interacts with year after year.
In addition to running Stella Farms, Chris cherishes time with his wife, Tracey, and his daughter, Grace. They enjoy watching movies together and are all self-proclaimed movie buffs! They also love to share music together—going to concerts and sharing playlists—their passion for movies and music binds them together and has created countless wonderful memories. And while Tracey isn’t a Stella Farms’ employee, she is undoubtedly a valuable member of the team. Whether it’s bringing in snacks for everyone or planning birthday parties or company events, she takes care of the Stella Farms family as her own.