Joseph Speroni and David Geise Honored as 2001 Outstanding Alumni

Joseph Speroni of Sandwich, Mass., is director of agricultural, food and quality sciences for Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. Since 1982, he has served in management, product development and quality positions. He is credited with leading Ocean Spray as the first juice company to cooperate with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on their Hazard Analysis Critical Control Program with the U.S. EPA and FDA on their Pesticide Protective Screen Program.

Speroni has co-authored several scientific papers and is a member of National Food Processors Association within which he has chaired on several committees. He is also a member of the Institute of Food Technologists.

He received a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry from the State University of New York at Cortland in 1975, a master's degree in plant pathology from Penn State in 1979 and a doctoral degree in food science from Penn State in 1982.

David Geise of Milton, Pa., is president and CEO of Furman Foods Inc. of Northumberland, Pa., an 80-year-old company that is the largest family-owned tomato processor in the eastern United States, processing more than 7 million cases of product annually. He has been with the company since 1968 and has been president since 1977.

Geise serves on the board of directors and on the executive committee of the National Food Processors Association (NFPA) and has served on the association's Federal Issues Committee. He's also served as chairman and held several other leadership positions within the Pennsylvania Food Processors Association. He currently is on the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Food Industry Alliance.

Geise is a member of the Harrisburg subcommittee of the Penn State Food Science Facilities Committee and is past president and a current member of the board of directors of the Central Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce. He lectured at the 1999 Penn State Ag Business Executive Program sponsored by the College of Agricultural Sciences and Penn State's Smeal College of Business Administration.

Geise received a bachelor's degree in horticulture from Penn State in 1968.