Jacob Glueck
Founder
A native of Hungary, Jacob Glueck learned the flavor and fragrance business at the feet of his father in Europe. A Holocaust survivor, who came to the shores of America with little more than a hope and a dream, Mr. Glueck went on to create one of the world’s foremost flavor and industrial fragrance house giants his daughter runs today. It began in the 1960s, when he assumed management of U.S. flavor house Citroil Enterprises and Fritzsche SAICA, an Argentine company devoted to the creation and industrialization of flavors and fragrances for industrial application. In 1964, he founded Citromax S.A.C.I. and quickly built it into one of the world’s largest growers of lemons and producers of juices and oils.
Vivian Glueck
President
Vivian Glueck was born in New York, but spent her early childhood in Argentina during the time her father founded both Citromax S.A.C.I. and Fritzsche SAICA. After earning a BA from Barnard College in physics and a Master’s degree from Columbia University in astrophysics, Vivian went to work for NASA. After two years at NASA, she came to work for her father at Citroil Enterprises, taking over as acting head of the company in 1997. Vivian was officially named President of the family of Citromax companies in 2001. A married mother of two, Vivian devotes her spare time to charitable work and serves on the Boards of several venerable New York institutions.
Lucas Fornaciari
General Manager
Lucas Fornaciari has been working at Citromax almost since his graduation with a degree as a National Public Accountant, serving in various financial positions at the company for more than 28 years. As General Manager of Citromax S.A.C.I., he has helped establish Citromax as one of the most well known and respected companies in the Citrus Industry. He has held positions at some of the most prestigious industry organizations, including various national institutions, such as Union Industrial, Asociacion Tucumana del Citrus, Federcitrus and Cica. He most recently served as director of the Instituto de Desarrollo Productivo, a Provincial Governmental Organization. A married father of four teenagers, his love of nature and his family have inspired Lucas to take skiing lessons with his children.
Murilo Basso
General Manager / Sales Manager
Murilo Basso holds a degree in Food Engineering from Unicamp in Brazil and a MBA from Fundação Getulio Vargas. He began his career as a trainee at Tetra Pak, then moved to Unilever where he worked in the area of new business development before joining Citromax approximately eight years ago. Today he is the director of Citromax Essencias Ltda. in Brazil.
Elaine Kellman-Grosinger
Chief Flavor Chemist/Director of Research & Development
Elaine Kellman-Grosinger is a flavor industry hall-of-famer who began her career at International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) as a flavor trainee. From there she moved to Fritzsche D&O as a flavor chemist, then Felton/F&C, where she ran the company’s East Coast division, followed by Givaudan and H&R/Symrise, before joining Citroil in 2005 to head the company’s newly formed flavor division. Elaine has a BS from Brooklyn College and a Master’s from NYU. When she’s not creating the tastes of tomorrow, she can be found playing the piano or perfecting her Downward-Facing Dog.
Donna M. McGeough
Senior Flavorist
Donna McGeough is a flavor veteran, having been in the industry since 1988. After working at several flavor companies in New York and New Jersey, she joined Citroil Enterprises in 2005, and has been sweetening clients’ lives ever since.
Joseph Clark
Quality Assurance/Quality Control Chemist
Joe Clark gives new meaning to the words loyalty, commitment and growth. He began working for Citroil upon his graduation from Stevens Tech, where he received both a BS and MS, and is responsible for QA / QC for all of the company’s products. When he’s not applying strict and rigorous controls to ensure that every product that leaves the New Jersey facility meets the Citromax excellence guarantee, he enjoys reffing youth soccer and playing with computers and ponds.
Max van der Linden
Director of Operations/Plant Manager
Max van der Linden has 30 years of experience in the flavor, fragrance, and consumer products industries, holding senior level positions in Operations and Engineering. Max’s focus has always been R&D and operations innovation, including process optimization, standardization and equipment design. As Director of Operations/Plant Manager, Max applies his expertise and enthusiasm to position Citromax Flavors as one of the leaders in low-cost manufacturing and quick-to-market B-to-B suppliers. He drives Operations’ success by making meeting customer expectations the key value of every member of the Operations team. Much of Max’s passion for his work stems from his love of competitive sailing and weekend racing of Flying Scot sloop rigged boats. For him, it embraces the best attributes of teamwork, decision making, and beauty.
