On The Move

Jennifer Zurko

BALL SEED

Ian Van Zanten has accepted the position as the Ball Seed Sales Representative in the lower mainland of British Columbia, transitioning into his new role with the retirement of Carla Crofton this spring. Ian has spent the past four years with Ball Australia in Melbourne, most recently as the Growing Manager, leading a team of growers and overseeing all aspects of the growing operation. He spent the first two years as Head Grower, managing stock plants and growing plugs and liners from seed, unrooted cuttings and tissue culture.  

Prior to moving to Australia, Ian spent 21 years working with his family business, Pan American Nursery Products in Surrey, British Columbia. Early in his career, Ian was in sales, covering the Lower Mainland of British Columbia and the Western U.S. He was the Head Grower and Nursery Manager during his final three years with Pan American Nursery Products.  

ENVU

Envu has named John Price as head of U.S. Turf & Ornamentals. John joined Envu from SBM Life Science where he served as the North American head of marketing and innovation. He officially joined Envu in September. John has served in leadership roles for several companies, including The Hershey Company, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Barbasol and SBM Life Science, and has extensive experience leading teams in sales, marketing and innovation.

Envu has also named Peter Farno head of the U.S. Ornamentals business. Peter has more than 25 years of experience with Envu and Bayer Environmental Science, previously serving as U.S. ornamental business manager. Most recently, Peter was the customer engagement lead for Envu in North America and Latin America.

Envu also welcomed Edgar Tuna to the U.S. Ornamentals business as an area sales manager for the West, based in Southern California. Edgar has more than 20 years of experience as a grower in various key roles, and most recently, he was a territory manager for Nutrien Ag Solutions.

MONROVIA

Jimmy McCanlies has joined Monrovia as its new National Sales Coach. With more than 25 years of experience in agriculture and horticulture sales and operations, Jimmy brings training, coaching and collaboration skills to the company. As the National Sales Coach, he will work closely with Regional Sales Coaches, focusing on strategy and staffing. He’ll be traveling extensively, training outside sales team members and ensuring that Monrovia customers receive the highest-quality service and support. Jimmy most recently served as director of sales for BioWorks, and his experience also includes roles with a leading provider of horticulture plant care tags and a large ornamental plant supplier.

VINELAND RESEARCH & INNOVATION CENTRE

Brian Lynch, Ph.D., has been named as the new Director, Horticultural Technology Systems. In this role, Brian will lead Vineland’s refreshed vision for the Horticultural Technology Systems program, a hub for testing, validating and optimizing both Canadian and international technology solutions for the horticultural industry. Brian joined Vineland in 2018 as Senior Research Scientist and has led a team of engineers and technicians on projects tackling R&D problems in horticultural automation and robotics. He’s also been instrumental in project technical developments in machine learning, computer vision, mobile robotics, manipulators and mechatronics. Previous to Vineland, Brian was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Queen’s University in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences.