Congratulations to David Roche has he transitions into the role of Coffee Quality Institute Executive Director, as was initially announced at the SCAA CQI luncheon in Portland earlier this year and confirmed by the statement below released earlier today. The press release from CQI announces Roche will take the helm starting September 1; industry pioneer Ted Lingle is expected to continue focusing on training activity at the institute.

After a thorough selection process, the Coffee Quality Institute’s (CQI) Technical Director, David Roche, will succeed Ted Lingle as its new executive director. Lingle, who will be retiring at the end of 2012, helped form the Specialty Coffee Association of America in 1982 and has been in the industry for over 42 years. He went on to be one of CQI’s three founding directors when it was formed in 1995 as SCAA’s educational foundation, formerly known as the Specialty Coffee Institute. As a leading advocate for quality, he was instrumental in formulating CQI’s vision to create a common language based on objective standards for both Arabica and Robusta coffee. After leading the institute since 2006, Lingle will officially step down on September 1, as CQI’s Board of Trustees formally selected David Roche among a pool of qualified candidates to transition into the position.

Lingle comments, “David has played a key role for CQI in managing the activities of Coffee Corps and working with current and prospective NGO partners in developing the activities and project funding that have made CQI successful over the past five years. He fully understands the challenges ahead and is ready to now take the reigns of CQI. I am looking forward to working with him as he moves into this new role.”

Roche has a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture along with a master’s degree in Horticulture (Viticulture) from the University of California, Davis. With over 30 years of experience in international agriculture, and over 20 years in the coffee industry, Roche has a plethora of knowledge in international agribusiness and specialty coffee. This includes the unique challenge of converting a 500 acre sugar plantation on Maui into a fully mechanized coffee plantation, supervising every aspect of the transition from selection of genetic materials to installation of a wet mill. He has been with CQI since 2003 and brings an incredible depth of knowledge, vision and enthusiasm to the institute.

“Ted Lingle has been a mentor, colleague and friend for over 20 years, and I am grateful for all his support throughout the years. I am very excited to move into the role of executive director and continue this important work in the coffee community,” states Roche.

CQI’s vision will be to continue to provide practical and strategic expertise on creating a differentiated market for the entire coffee value chain. And the mission will remain unchanged: work internationally to improve the quality of coffee and the lives of the people who produce it.

The Coffee Quality Institute® (CQI) is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization working internationally to improve the quality of coffee and the lives of the people who produce it. CQI provides training and technical assistance to coffee producers and other individuals in the supply chain to increase the value, volume and sustainability of high quality coffee production. CQI also works toward building institutional capacity in coffee producing countries by creating systems and infrastructure that encourage a focus on quality that leads to higher farmer incomes.