As a member of CCOF, you may remember the first day you explored our services. Chances are, you talked to Jane Wade about how to get started.
Jane joined CCOF in October 2009. In her initial role, she worked as a development specialist, creating bonds with business partners. In 2011, Jane saw an opportunity to begin developing what CCOF now calls “applicant support.” With a keen eye for system improvement, Jane started building a catalogue of carefully crafted answers to common questions from new producers in this unique circumstance. Over her time in this role, Jane has continually evolved, and her small collection of “sample replies” has grown to a wealth of detailed templates.
Because she acted as the primary applicant support specialist for most of the last 15 years, we can safely assume that Jane was the first impression for most of our clients in recent years. Acting as a conduit for producer-to-producer support, pulling in resources from all corners of the organic community, and facilitating the completion of the CCOF application packet, Jane bolstered the success of countless new organic operations.
As CCOF has diversified our offerings, Jane has supported the launch of new programs like OCal, Regenerative Organic Certified® (ROC), and Primus. Our applicant support team is now a one-stop-shop of resources for any of CCOF’s certification services.
When I think of words to describe Jane, I think of innovative, steadfast, knowledgeable, passionate, and most importantly, a dear friend. It is bittersweet, to celebrate Jane toasting her 15 years here at CCOF with a well-deserved retirement at the end of this month. Jane’s contributions will echo at CCOF long after she is enjoying her next chapter! While talking on the phone, Jane developed many succinct and effective phrases to describe the organic landscape, one of the most common being “certification is like links in a chain.” Now I smile every time I use one of these phrases when chatting with a newcomer to the organic community. They are just so effective!
Please join us in celebrating Jane and wishing her well in her much-deserved retirement!
A heartfelt thanks to you, Jane!