Paris, Tenn. —Long-time Allegro President John Fuqua has announced his retirement after 39 eventful years with the company.
Allegro Fine Foods of Paris announced during its annual Board of Directors meeting held Saturday that Fuqua’s retirement is effective Jan. 22, 2022.
Thomas Harrison, former Vice President of Operations, has been named his successor, the third President in the company’s 45-year history. Fuqua will remain Chairman of the Board of Directors and help ensure a smooth transition of leadership throughout this year.
Fuqua joined Allegro in 1983 as the Director of Sales and Marketing becoming the companies first fulltime employee. In 1994, he was named President of Allegro by Owner and Founder, Dave Wilcox.
During his tenure, Fuqua led the marketing efforts to gain nationwide distribution of Allegro, expanding the plant operations to include co-packing and private label bottling and focused on workforce development and facilities growth.
“Thank you to Dave Wilcox and the Wilcox family for the love, encouragement and training over the years. He set a heck of a foundation for Allegro, and I am extremely excited about the future, and I am proud of our progress and growth over the last 39 years,” said Fuqua. “These last couple of years have been especially challenging due to COVID, and I’ve seen a community of teamwork from all employees and want to extend my sincere appreciation and thank the entire team of employees for our continued success.”
Harrison joined Allegro as a college intern in 2000 and continued his career there learning all aspects of the company’s operations. He was promoted to Vice President in 2007 and has demonstrated the ability to lead the organization both culturally and operationally as they have developed talent, navigated growth and experienced year over year sales increases despite the ongoing pandemic.
“I’m honored to be carrying on the legacy of both great men Dave and John, and hope to make them proud,” said Harrison, “I like to say if you surround yourself with good people, good things happen. We have a lot of good people here at Allegro and I look forward to what we will accomplish together.”