Dave Puglia, the new president and chief executive officer of Western Growers Association, has been with the grower group for 15 years, but his resume reveals an entire career pointing toward his new position.

Puglia grew up in Sacramento, CA, in a political family. His father was an appellate court justice appointed to the bench by Governor Ronald Reagan in the 1970s.

“I grew up in a Ronald Reagan house,” he said. “My father was a very astute political commentator and he possessed a great legal mind. I grew up discussing the issues of the day and having to defend myself. I knew I was a conservative, but we had no unanimity at our dinner table.”

He recalled those discussions being pivotal in forming his thinking, and his life decisions for the past 30 years.

After high school, Puglia pursued his education at California State University, Sacramento, eventually majoring in government-journalism. While still in college, he worked on the 1988 election campaign of George H. W. Bush, which introduced him to political operative Ken Khachigian. That was fortuitous as Khachigian convinced Puglia to fast track his studies and join Dan Lungren’s campaign for California attorney general the following year.

Puglia did just that and worked for the victorious Lungren in the A.G.’s office in a variety of increasingly more responsible positions over the next seven years.

In 1997, he resigned to take on the monumental task of managing Lungren’s Republican gubernatorial campaign in a state that was increasingly turning left. The effort was unsuccessful, but Puglia learned some very valuable lessons running a $45 million campaign and directing a staff of 60. At the top of his takeaway list was the realization that he did not want to make a career of running election campaigns. “It was very intense and I’m the kind of guy that throws everything I have into a job,” he said.

When the campaign was over, Puglia and his wife, Lezlie, had to take stock of where they were and what they wanted to do. Lezlie was pregnant with twins and would surely soon lose her position as a political appointee in the office of the outgoing California governor. Puglia, a partisan for the previous decade, took a position with APCO Worldwide’s Sacramento office. The public affairs consulting firm had many different clients and, for the next six years, Puglia honed his communications and advocacy skills serving as a non-partisan “hired gun.”

He said this stop taught him some great lessons that he finds very valuable to do this day. First and foremost, he learned to leave his own political philosophy in the parking lot as he advocates for issues and clients.

“My job was to give my clients an honest and intellectual evaluation of the issue and make recommendations, based on that,” he said.

He admitted there are some causes and clients he could not represent but he said being able to examine an issue from all sides is a valuable tool. That served him well when the opportunity to join Western Growers presented itself in 2005. Puglia did not particularly like the concept of working for a trade association. In his prior experience, he found that most trade associations lack boldness and the appetite to truly effect change. He was convinced in the interviewing process that Western Growers was different. Puglia joined the association as vice president of state government affairs and was serving as executive vice president before being tapped for the CEO position in October. His tenure officially began on Feb. 1, 2020.

As he assumes the presidency, Puglia expects to stay the course. He said WGA was founded almost 100 years ago as an advocacy group for California and Arizona farmers and that will continue to be its No. 1 task — save that it also now represents growers in Colorado and New Mexico. The organization does have a national presence with what Puglia called a “very talented” staff of advocates in Washington, DC.

The new president said Western Growers will continue to work in conjunction with produce and agricultural groups across the country on federal issues that affect western agriculture. Tops on that list is immigration reform and securing a legal workforce for the ag industry. Securing adequate water supplies is another item high on his agenda. Still another priority is lessening the impact of regulatory mandates that have been heaped on the backs of California businesses for the past 25 years.

Puglia also plans to continue “to develop business lines for the benefits of our members.” In recent years, WGA has been proactive in fostering technological solutions to some of the industry‘s most vexing problems, and has also developed several insurance products to address the unique needs of grower-shippers.

As far as the association itself is concerned, Puglia said an excellent staff is already in place and the board is the best in the industry. He did say that Western Growers is proactively working to find more women to serve on the board and continues its efforts to groom future leaders for the industry and the association.