On The Move

Jennifer Zurko

BAYER
The Supervisory Board of Bayer AG has appointed Rodrigo Santos to the company’s Board of Management and the position of President of the Crop Science division, effective January 1, 2022. Rodrigo will succeed Liam Condon, who ended the date of his contract with the company.

Rodrigo is currently Chief Operating Officer of the Crop Science Division of Bayer and responsible for the global commercial operations of the company’s agriculture business since June 2021. After the acquisition of Monsanto in 2018, he led the Crop Science business in Latin America. A Brazilian national, Rodrigo has spent 23 years with the company in sales, marketing, strategy and business development roles located in Brazil, the United States and Eastern Europe.

EASON HORTICULTURAL RESOURCES, INC.
Eason Horticultural Resources announced the addition of John McKenna to their National Sales Team. John has a successful sales history in the horticultural industry, most recently as territory manager with Star Roses and Plants, and Ball Ornamentals for eight years. Prior to that, he managed a sales territory for McHutchison for 13 years. John will be servicing customers in Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee.

Jody Shaul also has joined the National Sales Team as a sales rep in North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. Jody has worked in the industry for the last 22 years in positions of purchasing, management and production. Most recently, he spent seven years in perennial production, sales management and purchasing at Latham’s Nursery.

Lisa Finnegan is also joining their Sales Support Team. Prior to joining the EHR team, she worked at Plug Connection for 20 years, where she assisted customers, brokers and sales representatives, as well as worked with various breeders. Lisa also spent a three-year period working for Express, which built a basis in her understanding and needs of the broker.

HOFFMAN NURSERY
Hoffman Nursery has hired David Derreberry as Inventory Supervisor. In this new position, he’ll be working closely with members of the Logistics, Production and Growing teams to monitor and direct the flow of inventory information across the nursery. He’ll also be pivotal in helping the Sales team meet customers’ needs. David will initially work on refining processes to ensure the nursery’s inventory is accurate and  meets projected needs. He’ll perform physical inventories with team members and ensure crop transfers between departments are smooth and accurate. It’s also his job to make sure inventory is maintained at optimum levels. He’ll finetune product timelines so plants are there when the nursery’s customers need them. Coordinating across multiple departments requires good organizational, communication and people skills, which David learned while working for sports organizations like the Cincinnati Reds and Cincinnati Sports Leagues. He also held positions with logistics-oriented companies DHL and MedSpeed, where he did everything from managing a vehicle fleet to coordinating complex delivery schedules.

SAKATA SEED AMERICA
Sakata Seed America has appointed Eduardo Flores to the role of Chief Operations Officer (COO). Ed will assume responsibility for all of Sakata’s logistics, operations and seed production activity in North/Central America, reporting to John Nelson, Executive Vice-president, and administratively to Dave Armstrong, President-CEO. Ed will be based in Sakata’s Morgan Hill, California, headquarters.  

Ed has extensive experience leading supply chain operations for vegetables seeds, having served as Regional Operations Director for Monsanto’s North American vegetables business. He also was the commercial lead for De Ruiter, a global leader in high-tech greenhouse tomato seeds and other crops, acquired by Monsanto, and most recently, Ed led the global strategy for Dümmen Orange. GT