Hanold Associates recruited Kimberley Fernandes as the Head of Learning & Organizational Development for The Wonderful Company. Ashley Schiele, Katie Traines and Katrina Prospero led the search for the role based in Los Angeles, California.
The Wonderful Company grows, harvests, bottles, packages and markets a diverse range of healthy products, including fruits, nuts, flowers, water, wines and juices. The Wonderful Company’s diverse holdings make it the world’s largest grower of tree nuts, America’s largest citrus grower and the world’s largest flower delivery service with the Teleflora network of florists.
The Wonderful Company was founded by entrepreneurs Lynda and Stewart Resnick. As a husband-and-wife team, they have combined marketing savvy with financial and management acumen to pursue their shared passion for producing healthy products. They started by acquiring agricultural land in California. Over the years, they strategically expanded their company to encompass a diverse range of brands—from flowers to nuts, to beverages and beyond.
The Wonderful Company is privately-held and vertically-integrated with more than a dozen consumer businesses. Over the last five years, Wonderful has doubled in size to $4B in revenue and are on pace to continue this trajectory. With this high growth, their people force has significantly increased and the demand for employee development has accelerated. They are expanding The Wonderful Academy, a central training organization that supports all Wonderful Company business units, to successfully impact employee talent and company success.
Ms. Fernandes will be reporting to the Chief Financial Officer and SVP. She will build and scale learning and development programs that serve employees across The Wonderful Company’s 8,000-person organization. Ms. Fernandes will have a hands-on role to build and lead a team of eight (six internal and two external) to design, develop and deliver high-impact teachings to leaders across all companies. She will work closely with HR partners to create a multi-year employee development vision and bring it to fruition.
“Kimberley is a highly skilled talent management leader. Her experience with Accenture gives her a unique lens and approach to learning and organizational development, and although she readily identifies as a Type A personality, she has a warm approach and flexible servant leadership style. Kimberley is a great leader and will be a fantastic addition to The Wonderful Company,” said Ashley Schiele, a partner at Hanold Associates who co-led the search with Katie Traines and Katrina Prospero.
