FFAA For Fertile Minds: Lauding Leadership

FFAA For Fertile Minds: Lauding Leadership

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Any association is only as good as its leaders. FFAA has been blessed with dedicated professionals elected by their peers to lead it in fulfilling its mission to defend and promote the responsible use of fertilizers and pesticides in Florida.

Three FFAA leaders were honored recently for their vision and efforts on behalf of the industry: Dr. Mel Kyle, Gaylon Pfeiffer, and John Guglielmi.

Lifetime Achievement

FFAA’s highest leadership honor, its Lifetime Achievement Award, was earned by Dr. Kyle. His agchemical company career spans more than three decades and a half-dozen companies. It’s like a history lesson in corporate mergers and acquisitions: Velsicol Chemical Co., AmChem Chemical Co., Union Carbide Corp., Rhône-Poulenc Ag Co., Aventis CropScience, and Bayer CropScience. His list of service and leadership is extensive. He currently serves as a Gubernatorial appointee representing the agchem industry on the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Pesticide Review Council and he’s a member of the Board of Directors of Third Party Registrations Inc. He was Chair of FFAA’s Pesticide Advisory Committee, Long-Range Committee, and our Board Chair from 2002-2003. He’s chaired the Southern Crop Production Association’s State Affairs Committee, the EPA Region IV Product Stewardship Committee, and the list goes on. His exemplary service did not go unnoticed by others.
He earned Rhône-Poulenc’s Champion Achievement Award for successfully working with various state regulators to secure approval for Termidor through termiticide field trials. He received the Southern Crop Production Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004 and was honored by the Association of Structural Pest Control Regulatory Officials Board of Directors for service to the industry.
Dr. Kyle retired from Bayer CropScience in 2004 and is a part-time consultant now. He’s still volunteering his time and talent to bettering our industry, whether it’s writing legislators asking for their support of sound science in establishing Numeric Nutrient Criteria for Florida waters or asking for Congress to remedy a flawed court decision that would require NPDES permits for all pesticide applications on, near, or over water.
He received a well-deserved standing ovation when FFAA’s Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to him. His heartfelt and humble thank you speech is a hit video on www.FFAA.org.
Stout Service
Another leader honored by FFAA members is Gaylon Pfeiffer, who was recognized for his service and for spearheading strategic planning initiatives from 2009-2011 as Chairman of FFAA’s 21-member Board of Directors. A Mount Vernon, IN, native, Purdue University ag graduate, and BASF Value Chain Specialist, Pfeiffer spent his two years as Chairman guiding FFAA to greater operational efficiency, stronger committee structures, and qualitative and quantitative goals for all to meet. His leadership strengthened FFAA and inspired greater emphasis on meeting our members’ needs and exceeding their expectations.

Scholarly Achievement

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Last but not least is John Guglielmi, the immediate past Chairman of the FFAA Scholarship Fund Inc. Guglielmi is the Southern Region Director of Sales and Marketing with The Andersons. His dedication and outstanding support contributed greatly to FFAA’s very successful scholarship program. His volunteer efforts are even more remarkable when you know that during the two years he led FFAA’s Scholarship Board to new heights, he also was earning two Master degrees (a Master of Science and Ag Economics from Purdue University and a MBA from Indiana University).

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