The Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA) has announced that Jose Antonio Gutiérrez, quality assurance manager of Basal-Iresa, Mexico, has won the Future Leader of Latin America Award for 2019. He is seen in the photo above being congratulated by Fernando León Alatorre (left), director of Bajo Cero Frigoríficos, S.A. de C.V. and secretary of the Latin American Advisory Council, and Lowell Randel (right), the GCCA’s vice president for regulatory and government affairs.
The award, presented during the recent GCCA Latin America Cold Chain Congress in Mexico City, recognizes talented young people who stand out in the refrigerated storage sector, show potential to become tomorrow’s leaders and make a positive contribution to the development of the global temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics business.
Nominees under consideration in the annual competition, which is organized by the GCCA and its main partner, the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (IARW), must demonstrate excellence in the workplace, high probability of mastering the job and further excelling in the many facets within the industry, and possess insight into their organization’s strategic values, direction and policies.
“The GCCA Future Leader and the GCCA Global NextGen Award programs are designed specially to find and recognize the next generation of leaders in the cold chain logistics industry. Jose is a perfect example of the quality people that our industry possesses,” said Lowell Randel, the organization’s vice president of regulatory and government affairs.
The winner competed against Sonia Bueno, chief operating officer of Frezz & Logistics, Mexico. As part of the selection process, nominees were interviewed and judged by a panel of industry leaders from around the world. They were evaluated on knowledge of the industry, track record, communication ability and leadership skills. In addition, each candidate delivered a short presentation to the panel of judges and Congress attendees.
“I am honored to be receiving this award,” said Gutiérrez. “Attending the Congress was an outstanding experience for me, and I really enjoyed interacting with leaders from throughout the region, exchanging insights on quality improvement approaches in our industry, and being able to participate in the education content.”
Gutiérrez has been invited to attend the NextGen 2020 meeting, which will be held during the September 28-30 Global Cold Chain Expo in Dallas, Texas. There he will compete with young refrigerated warehousing leaders from North America, Europe and South Africa for the GCCA NextGen Award.
Partnership Agreement
Meanwhile, during he Congress in Mexico City the GCCA and the National Agricultural Council of Mexico signed an agreement solidifying a joint commitment to strengthen the cold chain in Mexico and grow the industry by optimizing each supply chain link in the agricultural sector. In working to achieve this goal, the areas to be developed are infrastructure and equipment, a business model for management in the production chain, innovation, circularity and cold chain management.
The cold chain is a key hub for Mexico’s agrologistic development, and both organizations believe it is essential to work on training programs that increase production, reduce waste, costs and delivery times of the product.
