`Deborah Rogers, Cofounder of California's 'The Olive Press,' Resigns - Olive Oil Times

Deborah Rogers, Cofounder of California's 'The Olive Press,' Resigns

By Nancy Flagg
Apr. 7, 2013 17:36 UTC


Deborah Rogers (right) with Mary Sue Milliken at the U.S. State Department for the launch of the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership Initiative in September.

After 17 years of devel­op­ing and nur­tur­ing The Olive Press, cofounder Deborah Rogers is step­ping away. Rogers announced her res­ig­na­tion today and the start of a new con­sult­ing busi­ness.

Rogers indi­cated that she needed to leave her man­age­ment role at the Olive Press to devote more time to the broader indus­try. With the tremen­dous inter­est in olive oil today, my time is in great demand both here and in the Southern Hemisphere,” said Rogers.
Rogers will con­tinue to own a share of The Olive Press, but will not be involved in its oper­a­tion.

Dan Flynn, direc­tor of the UC Davis Olive Center where Rogers serves on its taste panel, called her a pio­neer in the California olive indus­try.” Flynn told Olive Oil TimesRogers started in the olive oil busi­ness close to 20 years ago and was instru­men­tal in the devel­op­ment of the mod­ern indus­try… she was one of the first ones out there who believed that California could pro­duce qual­ity oil with the rest of the world.”

According to olive oil con­sul­tant Alexandra Kicenik Devarenne, Rogers was the first female miller in California, and the extra vir­gin and cit­rus olive oils she milled received top hon­ors in com­pe­ti­tions in California, Italy, Spain, Israel and Japan. In a craft that is dom­i­nated by men, it’s cool that the most awarded olive oil miller around is a woman,” Devarenne said. In 2010 Olive Oil Times rec­og­nized Rogers as Olive Oil Producer of the Year.

In her new ven­ture, Deborah Rogers, LLC, Rogers will offer con­sult­ing ser­vices to the olive oil indus­try. This is a great oppor­tu­nity for oth­ers in the indus­try to ben­e­fit from that rare com­bi­na­tion of expe­ri­ence, skill and cre­ativ­ity that Deborah brings to the party. I have no doubt that her dance card will be full in no time,” said Devarenne.

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