Judy Clayton Sanchez, Senior Director of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs; U.S. Sugar Corp.
Judy Clayton Sanchez is the Senior Director of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs for the U.S. Sugar Corp., one of the nation's premier agribusiness companies. U.S. Sugar is one of the nation's largest, privately held agribusiness companies. The company's primary business is the growing and processing of sugar and citrus in South Florida. She joined U.S. Sugar in 1994, transferring from its South Bay Growers vegetable operations where she worked in marketing and public relations.
She is responsible for U.S. Sugar's media and public relations activities and its public education/information programs. In addition, she coordinates all external and internal communications functions, acts as corporate spokesman and assists with the company's public affairs efforts. As spokesman, Ms. Sanchez has conducted hundreds of interviews, presentations, speeches and debates as well as television and radio appearances focused on U.S. Sugar's role in agricultural, trade and environmental issues.
Ms. Sanchez is extremely knowledgeable on issues of importance to U.S. and Florida agriculture in general and Florida's sugar industry in particular. As part of U.S. Sugar's Public Affairs team, she is well-versed on trade, regulatory and environmental issues. In 2011, Ms. Sanchez was appointed by U.S. Department of Agriculture Commissioner Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to the Agriculture Trade Advisory Council (ATAC) on sweeteners.
She attended the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communication and received a B.A. in Communications from Florida Atlantic University. She has spent most of her life in and around the agriculture/sugarcane industries, both in Florida and Louisiana. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Agriculture Institute of Florida, Western Palm Beach County Farm Bureau and the Lake Okeechobee Regional Economic Alliance of Palm Beach County. Ms. Sanchez also serves on the Public Education Advisory Committee for The Sugar Association. She is member of the Belle Glade and Clewiston Chambers of Commerce and an emeritus board member of the Florida Earth Foundation and Sustainable Florida. She served on the steering committee of the Lake Okeechobee Regional Initiative, Collins Center and the South Florida Water Management District's Water Resources and Advisory Council (WRAC) and the Lake Okeechobee subcommittee of WRAC.