Alumni Highlights
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Congrats to Alumnus Earl Williams ‘73 on his Retirement Written by Stuart McAllister- VP Sales and Marketing, Dole
Firstly, and with mixed emotions, Earl Williams announced his retirement as National Sales Manager for Dole Packaged Foods effective November 3, 2023. This date is just about 24 years to the day of service to Dole from his home base near Atlanta, Georgia. Before Dole, Earl held sales manager positions for Ocean Spray, General Mills, and Hunt Wesson. With this experience, Earl brought his sales and marketing skills to Dole to establish the presence of Dole products in the Convenience channels, including c stores, vending, micro markets, gas stations, airport concessions, airlines, hotels, coffee shops, movie theatres, gift shops, book stores, and other grab n go outlets. Earl’s love of snack products and his passion for selling them made him the perfect sales professional. He also introduced business with DOT Foods to Dole through the Convenience channel distributors. Over the years, Earl welcomed several members of the
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sales support team to work a booth at the convenience or vending shows alongside him, thus giving them valuable work skills talking to customers. He also served as a board member for the National Automatic Merchandising Association. Earl became famous in the trade for his wit and humor, as well as an encyclopedic and current working knowledge of a wide array of professional, amateur, and high school sports. Earl says he plans to not only turn the page for his next chapter in life but he plans to start living a whole new book. Rumor has it he will be starting a career in stand-up comedy, and he’s already performed at several open mic nights to test the waters. Earl’s big smile and warm heart will be truly missed at Dole. Past and present Dole team members who worked closely with Earl will be coming to Atlanta to celebrate Earl at the National College Football Hall of Fame, befitting his love of sports. For those who worked with Earl, please drop him a line to wish him well.
