On the Move

Jennifer Zurko

Ball Seed

Ball Seed announced that Sarah Story has joined the sales team, representing the company in the province of Saskatchewan. She will be taking over the Saskatchewan territory that was serviced by John Van Beveren, who has retired after 45 years. Sarah has over 20 years of sales and service experience within the fields of agronomy, horticulture and landscaping combined with a post-secondary degree in Ag, specializing in plant science.

Dümmen Orange

Dümmen Orange North America recently hired Katie Miller as regional product manager—perennials. With more than two decades of horticulture experience, Katie spent the past 16 years serving in multiple roles at Skagit Horticulture. She gained additional horticulture experience with Fiddler’s Ridge Farms and Toby’s Greenhouse in the private sector, as well as in the public sector with the University of Idaho, Idaho State Department of Agriculture and City of Moscow, Idaho. Katie has been an active member of the Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association since 2019 where she served as the group’s president and grower caucus board representative before that. She also volunteered for the City of Moscow’s tree committee for three years from 2004 to 2007.

Must Have Perennials

Must Have Perennials welcomed Justin Wisniewski as General Manager of the Must Have Perennials program in June. Stepping down from his current position with the organization, Paul Gooderham will return to his role as Breeder Agent, managing relationships for the organization across all applicable brands. Justin will oversee all operations for Must Have Perennials worldwide, which includes its conventional perennials assortment, as well as the newly added Tradewinds Hibiscus brand out of Aris’ Keepsake Plants facility in Alva, Florida. Justin holds a Bachelor of Science from Millersville University of Pennsylvania and originally joined the Aris organization as a trial gardener for Green Leaf Plants in the spring of 2016. He also served the organization as a Seed Specialist for Green Leaf Plants and acted as the General Manager for the Must Have Perennials program, formerly known as Blooms of Bressingham, from 2018 through 2020.

Northwest Nursery Buyers Association

Northwest Nursery Buyers Association (NNBA), a cooperative of independent retail nurseries and garden centers in the Pacific Northwest, announced that Allison (Ali) Pennell has joined the team that will be leading the association into its next chapter. Ali will handle member and vendor relations, as well as coordinate and manage the association’s events, education and annual trade show. Her role combines the talents of two retiring staff members—Steve Magley, who’s been the lead for member services since coming on board in 2017, and Carrie Trax, who’s been the association’s Office and Event Manager since joining NNBA in 2005. Ali will take over the events portion of Carrie’s role. Steve will retire at the end of June 2024 and Carrie at the end of December 2024.

A native Oregonian, Ali gained career experience over the last 20 years as a past employee of several well-known independent garden centers, through the Oregon Association of Nurseries (OAN) as their Event and Education Manager and at The Oregon Garden as Development Director. Most recently, she has spent the last several years growing her territory as a Sales Representative for McHutchison, Inc. Ali has a BS Degree in Environmental Studies from Oregon State University and is a member of the American Public Garden Association. She serves as Vice President for the OAN Retail and Greenhouse Chapter Board, and has earned several accolades during her career, including most recently being named Emerging Nursery Leader of the Year in October 2023 by the OAN.

Profile Products

Profile Products has announced two additions to its Profile Growing Solutions business: Bill Perdue as regional sales manager for the South-Central United States and Chris Freeman as senior technical specialist for the international market. Bill will lead horticulture sales in Louisiana, Texas and Colorado. He’ll represent the full Profile Growing Solutions portfolio and will work with the team to develop customized solutions for growers in the region. Bill will also work closely with Profile’s distributor representatives to support Florikan controlled-release fertilizer sales to large greenhouse and nursery growers. Prior to joining Profile, Bill spent the last four years with Dümmen Orange as the sales manager for tropical plants. With nearly 30 years of experience in distribution sales, including a tenure at Griffin Greenhouse Supplies, Bill has worked with large growers across the U.S., particularly in the South-Central region.

In Chris’ role as a technical specialist for the international market, he’ll drive global sales of HydraFiber, the company’s flagship engineered substrate. Chris will work to extend HydraFiber’s reach into the international market following its success in North America. Chris has an extensive international background, having worked on five continents, and he has served growers of various horticulture crops, including ornamentals and vegetables, both outdoors and in controlled environment agriculture (CEA).