Speakers
Chris Beytes – USA
Chris Beytes, our February 2022 conference emcee, is editor of GrowerTalks and Green Profit magazines and author of the widely read weekly e-newsletter Acres Online, which reaches more than 25,000 horticulture industry folks in 66 countries.
Chris is a graduate of the University of Florida, with a degree in journalism and a minor in ornamental horticulture. A former greenhouse owner with his wife, Laurie, Chris has been with Ball Publishing since 1993.
Anna & Susannah Ball – USA
Anna Caroline Ball is CEO and Chairman of the Board of the 126-year-old Ball Horticultural Company, an industry leader that colors the world through innovative plant breeding, a dedicated supply chain and cutting-edge biotechnology. Ball is a privately held company now in its fourth generation of family management through her daughter Susannah Ball. Susannah currently co-leads the company’s sustainability efforts toward a greener future.
Susannah is a graduate of St. John’s College and holds accreditation from Loyola University in family business stewardship and the University of Cambridge in business sustainability management. Anna received her B.A. degree from the University of Colorado and her M.B.A. from Northwestern University. She is a Trustee for The Morton Arboretum and a Director of the Board of Career Vision.
Warren Patterson – CAN
Warren Patterson is the CEO at OrderEase, a wholesale order management software solution, based in Barrie, ON, Canada.
After owning and operating an independent garden center for 14 years, Warren identified a need for a solution to make the ordering process easier with the multitude of vendors he was dealing with. He knew placing orders by phone, fax and email wasn’t an efficient way to do business and cost businesses a lot of time that could otherwise be spent with their customers.
Sid Raisch – USA
Sid Raisch is an advocate for family business leading growth, change, and results throughout US horticulture. Redefining the business future for consumer horticulture by understanding how the end-to-end supply chain needs to be redirected is a skill Sid has honed into an art…