Arysta LifeScience North America announced two new hires to its turf & ornamentals division. Michael Maravich was hired as marketing and product manager and Michael Owen is the new Southeast territory sales manager.
Maravich is accountable for marketing and product management functions for current and future fungicide, insecticide and herbicide products, and will report to Steven Dal Sasso, business manager, T&O, Arysta LifeScience.
Maravich brings eight years of broad scope and depth in turf and ornamental product technical, sales, and marketing management functions to his new assignment. Before joining Arysta LifeScience, Maravich served for three years as Category Manager for turf and ornamental fungicides, insecticides and specialty chemicals at LESCO/John Deere Landscapes. Previously, he had also functioned for one year as a Technical Representative, and three years in Agronomic Product Field Sales at LESCO.
Prior to that, Maravich was golf course construction supervisor at the Bruce Company of Wisconsin, a national golf course design and building firm, for two years. He is currently on the board of directors of the Ohio Lawn Care Association and a member of the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation. Maravich is a graduate of the Ohio State University, with a degree in turfgrass management.
“The growth potential of proprietary chemicals, combined with the flexibility of entrepreneurial marketing approaches in a rapidly growing company with a globally experienced management team represents a significant opportunity,” Maravich says. “As a distributor, I bought Arysta LifeScience products, so I know what customers need from Arysta T&O to build a mutually successful business."
“As our product line continues to expand, it will be critical for Arysta turf and ornamentals to strengthen customer partnerships,” Dal Sasso says. “I believe Michael Maravich will bring his extensive sales and distribution knowledge in this industry to continue to grow our business,” he adds.
Owen assumes responsibility for turf and ornamental sales from Virginia to Florida and surrounding southeastern states. Like Maravich, Owen will report Dal Sasso.
Owen has nearly fifteen years of broad sales and technical experience in both the golf and lawn care turf industry. Before joining Arysta LifeScience, he served most recently for four years as a lawn and landscape market manager for Bayer Environmental Science in the southeast, where he received the company’s Laureate Award for sales performance and growth for his contributions to successful turf product sales.
Previously, Owen worked for several years as territory sales manager for Syngenta Professional Products, primarily in Florida, where he managed sales in the golf course, lawn care, nursery/greenhouse and aquatic weed control markets. In 2002, Owen received the President’s Circle of Excellence Award for his participation in the successful launch and growth of several key Syngenta turf management products. Prior to that, he spent eight years in turf and ornamental chemical sales for Zeneca.
“After fifteen years of building T&O brands and businesses, I am excited about joining Arysta LifeScience and providing new and better products and superior service to meet the needs of golf course superintendents and professional turf managers,” Owen says.
He is a graduate of the University of Georgia, with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in agricultural economics. In 2007, The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) certified Owen as an ISA Certified Arborist.
