Clewiston, FL – U.S. Sugar announced that Judy Clayton Sanchez, the Company’s longtime Senior Director, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, plans to retire effective October 31, 2024.
“For more than 30 years, Judy Sanchez has done an extraordinary job in managing U.S. Sugar’s Communications efforts and has acted as corporate spokesperson with integrity and grace,” said President and CEO Kenneth W, McDuffie. “Her talent, expertise, and experience have earned the respect of our community, the media and the entire sugar industry, from Clewiston to Washington, D.C. and beyond.”
“As a valued member of our management team, Sanchez has been actively engaged in strategic issues involving our business, from the environment and community engagement to national farm bill and trade for more than three decades,” McDuffie said. “Her ability to effectively communicate on a wide range of issues as well as represent our Company with dignity and respect has been greatly appreciated by the senior management team, CEO and our board of directors.”
McDuffie said Clewiston resident and current Director of Corporate Communications Ryan Duffy, who has been working alongside Sanchez for the past seven years, will assume her role and responsibilities in Corporate Communications, including taking on the role of Company spokesman.
“Being part of the U.S. Sugar family has been an honor and a truly incredible, fun, brilliantly challenging experience,” Sanchez said. “Having worked with Ryan Duffy for nearly a decade, I am confident that his talent, abilities and passion for our business and our community will continue to serve our Company well.”
Sanchez first joined U.S. Sugar in 1992 as part of South Bay Growers, developing and marketing its fledgling retail salad products—moving over to U.S. Sugar’s executive offices in 1994. She was promoted to Director of Communications in 1996 and Senior Director, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs in 2011. She has been responsible for developing and overseeing the company’s corporate communications and community relations departments, including U.S. Sugar’s charitable giving programs as well as numerous community and employee-relations activities. She holds a bachelor’s in Communications from Florida Atlantic University.
Sanchez’s career efforts were recognized as a Glades Woman of Accomplishment in 2002 and when she was inducted into the Women in Communications Hall of Fame in 2022-23. U.S. Sugar has been fortunate that Sanchez and U.S. Sugar’s communications and public affairs team have engaged successfully over the years–communicating the science, facts and the Company’s position on issues that have been critical to the success of our Company, our industry, and our rural community. She also played a key role in the industry’s overwhelming defeat of the “Penny-a-Pound” Constitutional Amendment and sugar tax
She was appointed in 2011 to the USDA and USTR’s Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee and continued to serve under three different administrations. Sanchez is also a board member of the Western Palm Beach County Farm Bureau and Agriculture Communicators of Florida and a trustee of the Central Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce and Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Previously, she served on the Board of the Lake Okeechobee Regional Economic Alliance (LORE) and the South Florida Water Management District’s Water Resources Advisory Committee (WRAC) and its Lake Okeechobee sub-committee.
“Our company, our industry and our community have been truly blessed to have Judy Sanchez working on our behalf. She has been a terrific asset to our team for a long time, and we wish her well in retirement,” McDuffie said.
Sanchez and her husband Julio have two grown sons Matt (Lois) of Plantation, Florida and Nick (Karmen) of Fort Worth, Texas and three grandchildren. She and her husband reside in Belle Glade.
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