Women in Turf Breaking the Grass Ceiling a women’s volunteer maintenance crew at the U.S. Women’s Open.
Q: What are some of the challenges that women in the turf industry face? Stephanie: When you see the faces that make up the golf industry, our faces typically are behind the scenes. We’re not in the ads or the boardroom table or the head of the Kimberly Gard Syngenta is proud to support #WomenInTurf throughout the turf industry and is grateful to have several women on its industry-leading team as well. To celebrate Women’s Golf Day on June 7th, we spoke with Stephanie Schwenke @Schwenkengolfmm, marketing manager for Turf at Syngenta, and Kimberly Gard @GardKimberly, territory manager for Syngenta to gather insight on gender inclusivity in the golf industry.
association meetings. So the more
show the faces of who we are, we’ll be more encouraging for the next generation. And I think that’s a really important piece of what we’re trying to achieve, even back in 2015 with our #FacesOfaSuper campaign that featured Shelia Finney, former superintendent and current senior director of member programs at the GCSAA.
Q: How is Syngenta advocating for more diverse, inclusive workplaces in the turf industry?
We are working to change the stereotypes and invite others to join us because it is fun and it is
Stephanie: After working for Syngenta
encouraging and it’s a lot of very
for close to 20 years, we now have a
successful, talented people that make
strategic pillar for our business that
up our business and the industry as
focuses on diversity and inclusion
a whole. So lots of excitement and
across the company. Syngenta has
energy from my point of view.
hired new employees to focus on educating our employees around what DE&I means and how to have these conversations. Within the industry we have helped to spearhead initiatives like the Ladies Leading Turf networking and education event at the GCSAA show and help organize and support 56
Stephanie Schwenke
we can all engage and step in and motivate women to become interested in a certain profession within the golf industry, when they don’t even know that such a profession exists. So, with half of the population being women, and with a large segment of these women not being aware that these jobs exist, we’re facing a significant shortage of labor. When we talk about growing the game of golf, there’s a lot of growth that can happen with women, and it starts by opening up the conversation to bring more awareness.
Q: How do the Syngenta efforts with the U.S. Women’s Open benefit turf professionals? Kimberly: In 2020, Troy Flanagan,
Kimberly: Labor is a huge issue. I
Director of Golf Maintenance at the
mean, you hear about it in the news
Olympic Club, asked me if I could
with other industries as well. Like
help him recruit 30 women volunteers
Stephanie said, it is a profession that’s
for the 75th U.S. Women’s Open in
kind of like Disneyland, where all the
2021. It was the first championship
magic happens behind the scenes.
where a dedicated women’s volunteer
But you’re kind of supposed to not
maintenance crew was brought in,
really be in the forefront. It’s hard to
Syngenta hosted educational and Golf Central • Volume 23, Issue 4
