"Agriculture is in my blood," says Walt Tindell, whose family and agriculture farming heritage dates back before 1900. "For me, this isn't work. It's my life, my family's life and it's what I love to do." Born and raised in Sacramento, Walt spent a lot of time on his grandparent's ranch in Lodi, where his love for agriculture and California grew at a young age.

After spending many summers in the pear packing shed working for his father and making connections in the industry, Walt was able to get a job with Calpine after graduating with his Ag Business Management degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1977.

Walt has worked at numerous Calpine locations throughout the years, and started out working in the yard in Lodi. He truly has worked his way to the top.

Walt has lived in Clovis since 1990 with his wife and three children. He can usually be found working in his garden, cooking in the kitchen and enjoying friends' company on his bocce ball court when he is not busy with his duties at Calpine.

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Born and raised on the coast of Northern California, Ken lived in Eureka through high school before his father, an independent forestry contractor, moved the family to Redding after the industry began to decline. His father started Northern Ag Services, a company that installed irrigation systems for growers, primarily nuts and wine grapes. Ken worked for Northern Ag Services during his junior college years surveying pipe lines and installing the pipe systems.

After graduating from U.C. Berkeley, Ken worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers for six years. PwC is a worldwide accounting firm and he specialized in auditing middle-market companies in the manufacturing industry. Because of his interest in forestry and agriculture, Ken jumped at the opportunity when a financial position presented itself at Calpine in 2002. His background in accounting and auditing provided him the experience to be qualified for Calpine's Controller and to eventually be promoted to CFO.

"Calpine is a great company to work for with the perfect combination of an interesting and challenging environment coupled with work-life balance," he says. "The people that work for Calpine are its best asset: professional and experienced people that truly care about the success of customers as well as fellow employees. Calpine is a fun place to work and has a tendency to become a 'second family'."

Away from Calpine, Ken enjoys spending time with his wife Kate and their two young children: Jack and Abby. They like to spend their time swimming, riding bikes and going on trips to the mountains or the ocean (and Disneyland of course).

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Eva Hammond was born and raised in Santiago, Chile. After attending university and working in the fashion and cosmetics industry, she decided to come to Fresno and earn her MBA at CSU-Fresno. Following graduation, a Calpine supplier told her that Walt Tindell was looking for an assistant and she decided to give it a shot. That was almost 9 years ago.

Why does Eva enjoy working in the produce industry? "The fact that it's so dynamic and it makes me feel close to Chile," she says.

Eva is an active member of the Central Valley Cycling Charitable Association, which raises funds for local charities. In her spare time, she enjoys working in the yard and riding her bike.

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Tom was born in Bismark, North Dakota and lived in Minnesota and south Texas before moving to Sanger in 1975. While living in south Texas, he began loading watermelons at age 12 and when he moved to California 4 years later, he went to work at Cal West Packing in Parlier during the summer. He ran one of the very first corrugated box machines which was supplied by Westerlund Box, later purchased by Calpine Containers.

Before joining Calpine, he spent 17 years as a plant manager for A. Levy & J. Zenter Company. They were one of Calpine's largest customers and when they closed in 1996, he started working for Calpine two months later. It was a natural fit from the packing house to the packaging business.

Tom's favorite way to spend his time away from Calpine is with his family, biking, hiking, desert motorcycle riding and doing anything fun. Tom has been involved in his community through the Sanger and Central Valley YMCA board of directors and helping coach for his girls' softball teams when they were in school.

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Carrie Perry was born in Palm Springs and raised in Concord, CA. Prior to her produce career, she worked for SC Fuels in Orange County where she worked in billing and accounts payable.

Then in 2004, Carrie quickly became a permanent Calpine employee after working as a temporary employee. She says, "In the nine years I have been here I have learned so much about the industry. There is a lot more to it than just going to the grocery store and buying produce." She enjoys that she is now an important part of providing healthy food to consumers.

Her biggest joys away from Calpine are reading, camping and pedicures with her daughter. She also loves attending Fresno Grizzlies or San Francisco Giants games as much as possible. Carrie stays involved by volunteering time in the classroom and during special events at her daughter's elementary school. She has also been a team mom for a few seasons of soccer.

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Marco was raised in Fresno spending many of his summers working for family run farming operations.  As for the packaging side of things, Marco says he fell into it. He had just finished with his BA in Graphic Design from Fresno State, gotten married and had his first son.  He took the first job that was offered to him thinking that doing design for agricultural packaging would only be temporary. He started as a Graphic Service Center Artist at Willamette Industries in Sanger, CA in 1998 and worked there for about 5 years and then as the Art and Creative Director for Maxco Supply Co. for the next few years.

While working at Willamette, Marco got to know many of the Calpine sales reps and employees as he had worked closely with many of them and their customers.  In October 2005, he was asked to help set up and run Calpine Corrugated LLC and he jumped at the opportunity.  Currently, as the Calpine Container's Art and Creative Director, Marco can't imagine doing anything else.  He works closely with Calpine sales and Calpine customers developing new creative looks and packaging ideas.

Spending time with his wife and three kids is at the top of Marco's list.  Calpine's value of family is extremely important to him, as he feels "Calpine has become a part of my extended family."  Marco's most passionate art project is the renovation of his 1923 home that he claims is "never ending."  He also really enjoys traveling with his family and while out seeing the world, he can't help but to look around him and see what new can be incorporated into produce packaging.

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Born in Fairfield, CA, Stacy lived in several different cities before landing in Fresno at age 11. She wore many hats prior to her produce days and one of her early careers was as a secretary for the FBI.

Stacy has been a part of Calpine since 2008, and says she enjoys her job because "the people in our office are great and everyone works well together. Calpine is very family-oriented and flexible." She takes pleasure in the industry because there is always a crop somewhere in season. Everyone needs to eat, and Calpine is helping to bring something healthy to the marketplace.

In her spare time, Stacy loves to read and ride her bicycle. On long weekends, she and her family like to take their RV and ATV out to the desert or the beach where they ride around and explore. Stacy also enjoys helping out at the Pythian Youth Camp in the Sequoia National Forest a couple times during the summer to help open and close the camp.

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Born and raised in Fresno, Crystal pursued a career in the accounting field after completing the Business Finance program at CSU-Fresno. After spending some time at home with little ones, she found a position at Calpine that fit what she was looking for. She says "the best thing about Calpine is the work atmosphere. The environment is very friendly and professional. Also, the value placed on the relationship with clients is admirable."

What is her favorite thing about the industry? "I like that Calpine promotes fresh and healthy food choices and is environmentally conscious."

Outside from her role at Calpine, Crystal is active in her community, lending her time to Sunday school classes, local Girl Scout troops, and Compassion Outreach Ministry. In her spare time, she also enjoys spending time with her family, being outdoors, shopping, watching movies and eating dessert.

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Mao is originally from Thailand, but was raised in Appleton, WI. Before her position in produce, she worked as licensed customer service for American Family Insurance for 7 years and an ESL, English Second Language, interpreter for K-6 grade in the Appleton area school district.

Mao started working at Calpine when she relocated to Fresno and wanted to try something new. The thing she says she loves most about her job is to make sales, sales and more sales. "The people I work with are really friendly and helpful, and every day is a learning process," she says.

In her spare time, Mao enjoys spending time with her family. Their biggest joys are camping, fishing and visiting the beach.

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