Tessenderlo Kerley Inc. (TKI) reports that Jordan Burns, the current president and former CEO, has elected to leave TKI after 20 years in senior management.
TKI said that during his time the company established itself as a key supplier to the agricultural sector, with key product offerings in both Crop Nutrition and Crop Protection.
With the announced departure, Mr. Luc Tack will assume the responsibilities of president along with his role as CEO.
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. announced today that it has bought a minority stake in Bonnie Plants Inc., the largest provider in the U.S. of potted vegetables and herbs sold to gardeners through a variety of retail outlets. Bonnie is owned by privately-held Alabama Farmers Cooperative (AFC). Scotts said the AFC board has approved the deal and closing is dependent on approval by AFC members as well as restructuring of existing financing.
In other news, Scotts reported a 14 percent increase in net sales to $245.7 million for the first quarter ending Jan. 2, 2016, from the year-ago $216.2 million. Scotts said the uptick was due to strong shipments in core U.S. markets, new acquisitions as well as the current quarter including an extra six days versus the year-ago period. The latter added another $15 million to sales. The company reported a seasonal loss of $80.8 million ($1.32 per diluted share) compared to the year-ago loss of $74 million ($1.23 per share).
The board of directors of Shrieve Chemical Co. has named Ted Threadgill as president and CEO of the company. He will be responsible for all global entities of Shrieve Chemical and will operate from Shrieve World Headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas.
Threadgill is a Winter Haven, Fla., native, who started his career with trucking conglomerate Comcar Industries in 1989. He joined the fertilizer industry with Comcar subsidiary CTL Distribution in Mulberry Fla., where he served the “Bone Valley” phosphate region. He joined Shrieve in 1994 managing Shrieve’s Southeast region, established and managed Shrieve’s Jacksonville sulfuric terminal in 2002, joined the Shrieve board in 2004, and in 2015 relocated to The Woodlands, with his family. He can be reached at tthreadgill@shrieve.com or 281.367.4226.
In other structural changes at Shrieve, after a two year planned transition, Jerry Jackson, former president of Shrieve Chemical, has stepped down to accept the role of executive vice president and will serve as board chairman. Jackson, a 40 year veteran of the fertilizer and chemical industry remains a full-time employee of Shrieve and can be reached at jjackson@shrieve.com or 281.367.4226.
Replacing Threadgill in the Southeast is Chris Burns who is the Shrieve marketing manager-Southeast. He is also a Winter Haven native and joined Shrieve in 2010 from the financial industry and is based out of his office in Winter Haven. Chris can be reached at cburns@shrieve.com or 281.367.4226.
