On The Move

Jennifer Zurko

BALL HORTICULTURAL COMPANY

Ball Horticultural Company recently announced that Jason Jandrew will be in the new role of Chief Product Development Officer. In this newly created position, Jason will work with business units to set the strategic direction of product development for the Ball corporation. Jason will work to improve collaboration and maximize Ball’s investment in plant breeding, trialing and global R&D facilities.

Jason has been a successful plant breeder and breeding director in the industry for over 20 years, the last 12 of which have been with Ball, where he held leadership roles as Global Director of Plant Breeding for PanAmerican Seed and leading the breeding team at Ball FloraPlant.  

CERTIFIED ROSES

Certified Roses, Inc. announced that Mike Treiber has joined the company as its Vice President of Sales. Mike comes with extensive experience in the horticulture industry where he held management positions at Color Spot Nurseries and UFP Industrial.

DRAMM

The Dramm Corporation announced that Angela Storm is its new Western Technical Representative. Angela will be responsible for managing distributor relationships and supporting those sales in the Western United States. She’ll work with commercial customers involving products focused on hand-watering tools, complete irrigation systems, chemical applicators, horizontal airflow systems, humidity management tools and complete water system integrations.

Angela comes from a long- and well-established career in the commercial horticulture business, most recently as a key account representative for Dümmen Orange North America and prior as a breeder representative for Selecta One in North America. She and her husband, Oliver, own and operate a wholesale growing operation in Encinitas, California.

RIDDER

Morris Brink has joined Ridder as the new U.S. West Coast Sales Manager. Morris will be responsible for developing and executing sales strategies to expand Ridder’s market share in the region while also building and maintaining relationships with existing customers. Morris brings over 15 years of experience in the agriculture and horticulture industry, with a focus on greenhouse automation and technology. Prior to joining Ridder, he served as sales manager for other leading greenhouse technology companies.

Bart de Vos has been appointed as Chief Commercial Officer. Previously, Bart served as CCO at Robart, a provider of AI-powered vacuum robots, and held several commercial and managerial roles in various companies, such as Bissell, an American family-owned floor care company and the multinational Philips.

In addition, Ridder also welcomed Timo Spruijt as new Sales Director EMEA. Timo previously filled the role of Chief Commercial Officer at horticultural tech company 30Mhz. Prior to that, he spent over a decade in various commercial and managerial roles at Koppert Biological Systems in the Netherlands and Mexico. 

SUNTORY FLOWERS

Suntory Flowers has named Yasunori Yomo president, effective April 1.  He succeeds Taizo Chinju, who’s been promoted to chairman. Yomo began his career as a breeder when he was assigned to Suntory’s flower business division in 1995. Prior to that, he was a wine engineer at Suntory’s Yamanashi Winery. He graduated from Kyoto University with a master’s degree in agricultural science and was part of the pomology faculty, focused on fruit. More recently, he directed research, development and production, and then transferred over to the business side, managing Suntory Flowers’ domestic business and business strategy.

Suntory Flowers also announced changes in its North American leadership team. Executive General Manager Masashi Matsumura will move to the beverage side of Suntory Holdings with a focus on global business development. Toshio Matsuyama will join Suntory Flowers from Suntory Holdings and Kentaro Suka will support him as manager. Both Matsuyama and Suka will work closely with the U.S.-based team of General Manager T Jay Higgins, Marketing Director Delilah Onofrey, and Sales & Product Representative Lorentina McKoy. Yukina Tani continues in her supporting role.

SYNGENTA

Todd Loecke has been appointed to the newly created role of head of key accounts for Syngenta, managing six key account managers across the turf, ornamentals, professional pest management and consumer businesses. Todd started his career in 1991 with a Syngenta legacy company as a crop protection territory manager. He began supporting Syngenta Professional Solutions in 1998 as a territory manager. In 2007, he became the Midwest District Sales Manager for turf and ornamentals, a position he held until he began his new role this year.

With the addition of this new position, Syngenta has now added three new key account manager positions since early 2022 with previous roles being filled by Jason Whitecliffe and Gracee Hendrix. Together, these new and current key account managers will focus on the growth of the Professional Solutions businesses in key markets.

Troy Rippy has been appointed the new Midwest District Sales Manager within the turf and ornamentals businesses. He’ll be leading a team of nine territory managers covering the central region of the U.S. Prior to joining Syngenta, Troy served as a golf course superintendent at Eagle Glen Golf Course before and as a distributor sales representative for Simplot. He’s been a territory manager for Syngenta in Indiana and Northwest Ohio since 2006. GT