On The Move

Jennifer Zurko

A.M.A. HORTICULTURE, INC.

Last year, A.M.A. Plastics Ltd. changed its name to A.M.A. Horticulture Inc. to better reflect the company’s focus on delivering innovative solutions to growers in the horticulture industry. With that name change came a new brand identity and now a new website—www.amahort.com.

The new A.M.A. website was built with input from growers and support from across the A.M.A. team. More than a simple face-lift, the website enables easy search and navigation to help customers discover A.M.A.’s solutions for growers across the horticulture industry.

BAILEY

Bailey announced that Jason Stern has joined the Territory Sales team in the Mid-Atlantic Region consisting of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Southern New Jersey and West Virginia. Jason has been in the nursery industry for more than 15 years with experience in field production, wholesale and landscape sales, and most recently as the production manager for a large container operation on the East Coast.

BALL SEED

Mark Wilson has accepted the position as Ball Seed Regional Business Manager for the Great Lakes and Northeast Sales Regions. Mark comes to Ball with 35 years of horticulture industry experience. Mark most recently served as Vice President of Global Commercial Ag for Fluence Bioengineering in Austin, Texas. Prior to his time at Fluence, Mark worked at Syngenta Flowers and with Ball. Mark was the Technical Manager and Sales and Marketing Manager for Ball FloraPlant in his time with Ball from 2000 to 2006. Mark grew up and worked in his family’s business, Wilson’s Nursery in Bradenton, Florida.  

Also newly hired is Erick Harris, who’s accepted the position as Ball Seed Regional Business Manager for the Southeast Region. Erick comes to Ball with 20 years of experience in sales, account management and sales leadership. Erick most recently served as a Regional Sales Manager at Hercules Sealing Products. Prior to his time at Hercules, Erick worked as a National Account Manager and Account Manager for Grainger. Erick started his sales career at Phillip Morris USA.

BIOWORKS

Dr. Michael Brownbridge has been named Biological Program Manager—Disease Control at BioWorks. In his new position, Dr. Brownbridge will be responsible for accelerating the adoption of current and new biological products, while providing expert advice and guidance to customers and partners. His strong history of integrated pest management will allow him to deeply understand the challenges customers are facing today and into the future as the adoption of biological programs continues to expand.

Dr. Brownbridge has over 30 years of industry experience in production systems and biological control, with an extensive research history. He previously held positions at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, AgResearch Ltd., and the University of Vermont among others.

HILVERDAFLORIST

Bart Sneek has been appointed as the new commercial director of HilverdaFlorist, succeeding Melchior Moen, who recently left HilverdaFlorist. Bart is no stranger to the company and has worked for HilverdaKooij before. After a period of working at PanAmerican Seed, Bart returns to HilverdaFlorist to work on an organization focused on growth and innovation. With a strong commercial focus, Bart will be the link between sales, marketing, breeding and the market/customers.

MCKAY NURSERY

Dave Warning, a seasoned nursery stock sales representative, has joined McKay Nursery to service independent garden centers, growers, municipalities and re-wholesalers throughout the Midwest. Dave previously worked for Bailey Nurseries for the last 17 years as a territory sales representative and then as Bailey’s Midwest Grower Specialist.

PACIFIC PLUG & LINER

Randy Preusse joins PP&L as Eastern Regional Sales Manager, helping the company expand its reach and better service customers on the East Coast and in the Southeast. Randy comes from Skagit Horticulture where he was Regional Sales Manager for 17 years, providing perennial sales and technical support to brokers and growers in the region. Prior to that, Randy worked six years as a Territory Sales Manager for Express Seed and spent 15 years at Ball Horticultural Company in Product Manager and Territory Sales roles. GT