 |
|
|
|
Employee BiosAaron McWhorter Aaron McWhorter grew up in Heard County, Georgia working on the family dairy farm. In 1969 Aaron graduated from West Georgia College with a BA in history and took a teaching position in Barnesville. During this time he also performed the duties of head men’s and women’s basketball coach and assistant football coach. In 1972 Aaron returned to work on the family dairy farm until 1985 when he started his turfgrass company, North Georgia Turf, Inc. Starting with only 25 certified acres of bermudagrass, NG Turf has grown to approximately 2000 acres with farm locations in Whitesburg, Franklin, Clarkesville, Calhoun and Fort Valley, Georgia. North Georgia Turf has established itself as an industry leader throughout the Southeast in providing high quality products and superior service. In December 1991, Aaron started another company, Sports Turf Company, Inc. to meet the growing athletic field construction business in Georgia. Sports Turf has grown into an organization that is recognized as the preferred contractor for high quality construction projects for colleges and universities, city and county municipalities, and public school systems throughout the Southeast. High profile projects/customers include Atlanta Falcons training facility, Auburn Tigers, University of Alabama, Atlanta Public Schools, and the 1996 Olympic Softball Facility. Aaron received a Masters in Education from West Georgia College in 1987. He is a member of the following organizations: Georgia Turfgrass Association – Past President & Board of DirectorsTifsport Growers Association – Past President Georgia Sod Producers Association –First President & Board of Directors Georgia Crop Improvement Association – Board of Directors Metro Atanta Landscape & Turfgrass Association (MALTA) Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) Past Member West Georg Farm Credit Service Board Past Member 3rd District Farm Credit Board of Directors Past Chairman 3rd District Farm Credit Board of Directors (1988) Georgia Department of Community Affairs Board Georgia Water Advisory Committee to E.P.D. Urban Ag Council – Board of Directors American Sports Builders Association & Past Member Board of Directors Aaron and his wife, Linda, reside in Whitesburg. They have three children, Mark, Merett and Natalie, all active in the family businesses, and four grandchildren. Ken Morrow
Ken Morrow was born and raised in a small town in northwest Alabama. He grew up on a small farm where his dad was a rural letter carrier and part-time farmer. As a young boy, he recognized a love for farming and agriculture and was active in 4-H and later in FFA where he served as a state officer with the Alabama FFA. Ken graduated from Auburn in 1975 and began a farming operation in his home town of Red Bay. Two years later he returned to Auburn and earned a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics. His farming operation was increased afterward to about 1800 acres by adding a farm unit just outside Huntsville, AL. In the early eighties Ken closed down his operation and moved with his wife and two sons to Atlanta, Georgia where he was employed by the Rollins family as Executive for Ranch Operations with responsibilities for six operating units in Georgia and Florida. About two and one half years later he left Rollins to lead Sod Atlanta in Cartersville, GA. This partnership sod farming operation has grown to 800 acres and Ken is currently President and General Manager in addition to being President of Athletic Fields, a specialized construction company building sports fields. Ken and partner Rick Hornsby joined with Aaron McWhorter of North Georgia Turf in 1997 to found The Turfgrass Group in Marshallville, GA. The company, with its licensed growers, is focused on the production and marketing of a Georgia developed centipede named TifBlair and the zoysia cultivars developed by Bladerunner Farms. The company plans to "bring advanced generation turfgrasses to market" in both domestic and international markets. Ken has been active in the industry serving in recent years on the boards of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, Georgia Urban Ag Council (Vice-President), Georgia Turfgrass Association (President), MALTA (Metro Atlanta Landscape and Turf Association; Treasurer), Georgia Sod Producers Association (Secretary-Treasurer), Georgia Crop Improvement Association (President), MALTA Insurance Trustees (Chairman), TifSport Growers Association (Chairman), and UGA CAES College Advisory Council (Chairman). Ken was also appointed by Governor Perdue to the Governor’s Agriculture Advisory Commission and the Governor’s Environmental Advisory Council (currently serving on both). In 2006, he received the Medallion of Honor from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Ken and his wife Pam live in Duluth, Georgia where they enjoy spending time with their family (two sons- Jason and Joshua) which has expanded with the marriage of their sons and births of two grandsons. They are active in Grace Church, a recent church plant in Sugar Hill and are enjoying the depth of relationships resulting from the shared experiences with friends in the congregation. David Doguet
David Doguet has over forty (40) years of experience in the turfgrass industry. He began his career as a manager for Milberger Turf Farms in Bay City, Texas in the late 60’s. He then started a new company, Quality Turf Grass in 1978 which grew to several thousand acres of St. Augustine and Bermudagrass production across Texas and worked with research on Zoysia and Buffalo grasses. He co-owned and operated that company until its sale in 1988. While at Quality Turf, David grew mostly commodity grasses (St. Augustine and Bermuda) just like everyone else in the area. As long as there was high demand, business was good and when demand lessened, prices fluctuated dramatically. David decided there had to be an alternative to just growing the same products as everyone else. He started visiting universities talking to turfgrass breeders and trying to come up with new grass varieties that would meet the needs of the future, particularly less maintenance. So, in 1988, Quality Turf was sold and in 1989, David and professional golfer Ben Crenshaw started a new grass farming venture, Crenshaw and Doguet Turfgrass in Austin, Texas. The operation began with 350 acres of turf, primarily buffalograss and expanded to over 1000 acres along with licensing rights to numerous grass varieties. David was president of Crenshaw and Doguet from its inception until the sale of the company to a group of investors in 1995. After the sale of CDT, David began a new turf farming operation, Bladerunner Farms, Inc. in Poteet, Texas south of San Antonio. Bladerunner would focus its production and marketing to primarily zoysiagrasses along with some buffalograsses. David purchased a large collection of zoysiagrasses from the late Jack Murray, one of the world’s leading authorities on zoysiagrass. This collection is one of the biggest and best in the world and is the mainstay of the Bladerunner operation. David has continued to work with several university systems through different types of grants, along with participation in the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the grass varieties he has developed. Through Bladerunner, David has provided turf to some of the most prominent commercial, residential and golf related projects in the state of Texas. Today, David is an internationally recognized leader in the development of specialized grass varieties. In 2005 David entered into an agreement with The Turfgrass Group, an Atlanta based company, to license his proprietary grasses in the eastern parts of the United States. The Turfgrass Group has shown superior capabilities in the production, quality assurance, distribution and marketing of proprietary turfgrasses. David and The Turfgrass Group continue to license growers in the east. The Turfgrass Group is working to expand their role as his licensing agent in other parts of the country. David is a two time past president of the Texas Sod Producers and has also been president of Turf Producers International. Bill Carraway
Bill Carraway’s affinity for agriculture began at an early age. His affections for farming were fostered by his grandfather, a County Extension Specialist in Charleston, South Carolina and his father who served as State Director of Meat and Poultry Inspection for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture after retiring as an officer in the United States Army Veterinary Corp. Throughout high school and college Bill worked in the landscape and nursery sectors of the green-industry. After attending The University of Georgia, Bill and his wife Robin, a Georgia State University graduate, founded Gwinnett Environmental Services, a professional landscape management and installations company specializing in commercial and industrial landscapes. In 1988 Bill sold Gwinnett Environmental Services and began his career in the turfgrass industry with Southern Turf Nurseries located in Tifton, Georgia. In 1989 Bill, his wife Robin, and two children relocated to Lakeland, Florida. Bill served as Golf Course Sales Manager for Southern Turf’s Florida and Caribbean grassing operations as well as General Manager of all Florida sod and sprig production operations for the next four years. In 1993 Bill returned to Georgia (with a third child) as Southern Turf’s Southeastern Sales Manager of Golf, where he served until 1995. In the spring of 1995 he left Southern Turf to help build Select Golf and Turf. Select Golf and Turf specialized in golf and sports field turfgrass installations and the production of certified and proprietary turfgrass cultivars. Select Golf and Turf quickly became one of the premier golf course installations companies in the Southeastern, United States. In July of 2004 Bill joined The Turfgrass Group as Vice President of Marketing. He and his team are responsible for all production licensing of TTG varieties, as well as turfgrass certification compliance, field inspections and all marketing efforts. Bill, his wife Robin and their youngest son Caleb a high school Junior, live in Monroe, Georgia close to their beloved University of Georgia. Bill’s daughter Kimberly, son-in-law Tyson and granddaughter Madison live in nearby Grayson, Georgia where Robin and Kimberly are both elementary school teachers. Bill’s oldest son Clay, a recent Biology graduate of UGA, lives in Dunwoody, Georgia and works with an information technology company in Atlanta. Earl ElsnerEducation
Retired, Georgia Seed Development Commission October 2001. Turfgrass history Published
articles: October 2001 to present |
|