The United Fresh Produce Association has named Julie Manes to the director of government relations position in the association’s Pennsylvania Avenue headquarters beginning September 1, two weeks before United’s annual Washington Public Policy Conference.

"Julie has such strong credentials and will be fully prepared to hit the ground running next month," said Robert Guenther, senior vice president of public policy. "We are extremely excited about the experience and energy that she will bring to our public policy efforts and the overall service we provide to our members."

Manes comes to United Fresh after 10 years as a federal affairs manger in DuPont’s Washington office. During her time at DuPont manes worked extensively on agriculture, nutrition and food safety issues with congress and the Bush and Obama Administrations. Manes also served as chair of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) Government Relations Committee, and led the formation of DuPont Health Care Reform Task Force, which included the creation of an internal company health care reform website utilized by DuPont’s 60,000 employees. Prior to her time with DuPont, Manes spent 13 years on Capitol Hill serving as legislative director for Congressman Jim Lightfoot (R-IA) and the chief agriculture aide for Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA).

As of September 1, Manes can be reached at 202-303-3400, ext. 404, or at jmanes@unitedfresh.org.