In addition to my degrees in Ornamental Horticulture and Business Management, my current graduate program is now complete as of April, 2012 and combines the quantitative and practical elements of the MBA – Marketing with the strategic and theoretical elements of the MLD – Leadership. 

Some have asked what ever happened to my selection of Echinacea purpurea, TWIST OF FATE™ - though twisting was unstable, it has produced interesting seedlings which are under continued evaluation and testing.  Several very prolific crops of Hemerocallis and reblooming Iris seedlings are also under evaluation and selection.  I have also dabbled in breeding of additional genera.

Involved in various segments of the commercial Horticulture industry since 1983, I received an AAS in Ornamental Horticulture in 1988, and a BA in Business Management, with a Minor in English Writing, in 1998. An Illinois Certified Nursery Professional, I am also a member of the Garden Writers Association (GWA).  My articles have been published in the Species Iris Group of North America quarterly bulletin, and Growing Trends, the magazine of the Illinois Nurserymen's Association.  Along with featured covers and photography in Growing Trends, my photographs have appeared in the bulletin of the Siberian Iris Society. I was also a staff writer and photographer for In The Mix, a local music and entertainment magazine. 

My careers have ranged from Commerical and Retail Nursery Sales Management for a range of private companies, to Horticultural Brokerage Vendor Relations for an international proprietary genetics firm, to Landscape Construction Project Management and more recently Residential Landscape Maintenance Account Management and Seasonal Color Coordination - as well as a significant tenure with an independent software developer serving the needs of large scale commercial growers in which  key special projects included the design, evolution and maintenance of a SQL-based hierarchical, Horticultural,  Product Information Management database accessed by various e-commerce, reporting and analytical tools.   My technology and analytical-business consulting outreach to the green industry continues to the present via OpusEmpowered!