Meet the Board

MEET THE 2022 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OGIA PRESIDENT

NAME: Molly John

COMPANY: M.J. Design Associates, Inc.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD IN 2022?

2022 is a new start and branding for OGIA and the green industry. I am excited to be a part of the next chapter of our association. I look forward to helping the association grow with new members, increase participation in the Ohio High School Landscape Olympics (OHLO) where we can have a profound impact on encouraging young adults to join our profession and make it a career.

OGIA IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

NAME: Devon Stanley

COMPANY: Benchmark Landscape Construction, Inc.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD IN 2022?

Since I am not serving this year as president I am eager to dedicate more time to exploring the options for and development of our certification program.

OGIA PRESIDENT-ELECT

NAME: Genevieve Reiner Mills, Esq. COMPANY: Oakland Nursery, Inc.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD IN 2022?

I’m looking forward to continuing to build our membership and to demonstrate the great value the OGIA is to the diverse array of green industry businesses in Ohio.

NAME: Pat Greeson

COMPANY: W. A. Natorp Corp.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD IN 2022?

I hope to help guide the organization as it continues to evolve and develop into an even more relevant source for the green industry.

NAME: Michael Hall

COMPANY: Harrell’s LLC

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD IN 2022?

I’d like to have a trade show back on the OGIA schedule.

NAME: Fred Higginbotham, III COMPANY: Millcreek Gardens LLC

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD IN 2022?

I hope to bring new and creative ways to help our current members connect and share info, while also attracting new members to the association. I’d love to focus on the career development of younger people in our industry as they will be the one’s down the road who we’ll need to be innovative and continue to push our industry forward. NAME: Scott Knowles

COMPANY: Wolf Creek Company

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD IN 2022?

I serve our leadership and staff. They serve our industry. I will do my part to help leadership make good choices.

NAME: Steven C. O’Neal

COMPANY: Columbus State Community College

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD IN 2022?

I’d like to bring a better understanding of the importance of all education to our members including continuing and college degrees. I hope to contribute to our continuing changes and improvements as an organization. We are on a new threshold of exciting opportunities.

NAME: Ron Schultz

COMPANY: Premier Plant Solutions

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD IN 2022?

I’m looking to help create greater awareness of this newly re-branded association by sharing everything OGIA has to offer when becoming a member. If you are currently a member, working to develop more value-added engagement opportunities/workshops to help grow your existing business. NAME: Matt Turner

COMPANY: Turner Landscaping

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD IN 2022?

I want to be a voice for the small green industry companies. I feel the small companies sometimes get lost in the mix because they may not have the resources and help to grow like the larger companies. We have a new generation of young men and women starting green industry companies and we need to make sure they are connected into the industry.

OGIA ANNOUNCES NEW FREE HUMAN RESOURCE MEMBER BENEFITS

The Employers’ Association (EA) is very pleased to begin a partnership with the Ohio Green Industry Association (OGIA) to provide human resource related services to the membership of the OGIA. The EA is an organization located in Northwest Ohio that has been providing HR services to its member companies since 1950 and, through this partnership, will now be providing many of those services to members of the OGIA. Most of these services are included as part of your membership in the OGIA. The EA is staffed by experienced HR professionals that can meet your HR needs quickly and thoroughly.

Included in these free OGIA member services is access to our HR Hotline, which can be used to ask questions about HR best practices, sample policies, employee disciplinary issues, compensation, benefits, job descriptions, incentives, recordkeeping requirements, performance appraisals, and any other HR issues with which you are faced on a daily basis. We know that many members of the OGIA may not have a person dedicated to handling HR challenges, but those duties are often delegated to an accountant, an office manager, an operations manager, or even an owner. Even if you have an HR professional on staff, you will have a ready resource that you can call during the hours of 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. that will provide an answer right away and always within 24 hours.

The EA will also provide three HR related webinars per year to OGIA members. These webinars will provide practical information about issues that are important to you, including understanding employment related laws, how to conduct effective and legal interviews, how to recognize and respond to substance use in the workplace, and best practices in performance appraisals. Should you want or need to provide training to a group of your supervisors, we can arrange to provide that training at a reasonable cost to you.

The EA will provide a monthly newsletter to members of the OGIA that includes the latest updates on employment law, safety, training, and leadership development. The EA will also provide HR Hot Topic emails with the latest employment law or other HR hot topic updates. and enroll in an update service that ensures that you will always have the most up to date posters.

Is your handbook outdated? The EA will provide a handbook template suitable for customizing by OGIA members. Updating or drafting a complete handbook for members is available at an extra cost. To access these services, you can call the EA at (419) 893-3000 or submit a question through the following link: https://theea.org/hr-answers-support/hrhotline-question. Just identify yourself as a member of the OGIA when calling or submitting a question or request. For more information about the EA, visit our website at https://theea.org.

We help you do your job even better. We empower excellence. You are constantly busy and expected to know everything. When you need help answering the tough questions or tackling timeconsuming projects, The Employers’ Association has you covered. Our experts in Human Resource Solutions and Professional Training can meet your needs today. We look forward to partnering with you.