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Coastal Growers LLC announced Dec. 22 the naming of Dirk Lindsey as chief executive officer of its new shelling facility in Atmore.

Lindsey has 29 years of experience in the peanut industry, with more than 15 of those years as a plant manager, according to a release.

He comes to Atmore from Jonesboro, Ark., where he was most recently chief operating officer of Delta Peanut’s production facility there.

“We’re proud to have Dirk join our team, and we are excited about the wealth of knowledge and experience he brings to this position,” said Joe Parker, one of Coastal Growers’ managing partners. “Dirk will be in charge of shepherding this project from the construction phase on to the production phase, and beyond. We believe he’ll be a great fit for our company, for Atmore and Escambia County, and for the farmers whose peanuts we’ll be shelling here. The $87 million facility will shell 30 tons of peanuts per hour.”

Lindsey also has experience in peanut warehousing and procurement, and has two previous stops in Alabama, having previously worked both at Golden Peanut and Tree Nuts in Fairhope and at Golden Peanut’s facility in Headland. He joined Golden Peanut in 1991 and worked for the company for 28 years, including stops in South Africa and throughout Texas, before leaving Golden Peanut to join Delta Peanut in Arkansas.

Lindsey is a graduate of Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, and later completed the executive education program at Rice University in Houston.

A former Eagle Scout, Lindsey served on the board of directors of the Alabama Agri-Business Council from 2011 to 2014 and served on the MADD Alabama Advisory Board from 2012 to 2014.

At Delta Peanut in Jonesboro, Lindsey oversaw construction of two new peanut buying points and a shelling facility, overseeing a staff of 60. As a procurement director with Golden Peanut, he formerly oversaw procurement and sales across a territory that included Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri. At previous stops, he was frequently involved with either the construction or renovation of multiple buying points and shelling facilities.

He also managed food safety programs in several locations. He has also managed logistics and customer service interaction for sales for a wide range of transactions to peanut manufacturers.

Lindsey is an expert in food safety management systems as they are related to the peanut industry, which is vital to supplying consumers both domestically and internationally, officials said in a release.

“Dirk will be a good fit here, and we’re happy to have him join us,” said Coastal Growers LLC Managing Partner

Brad Smith. “His addition is another piece that will make Coastal Growers’ facility in Atmore one of the most state-of-the-art shelling facilities in the country, and we look forward to having him come to our area.”