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FEATURED MEMBER R Y A N N I C H O L S , N U FA R M R E G I O N A L S A L E S M G R . 2021 AFFILIATE REPRESENTATIVE
I’m not sure how often we have a member spotlight write the article about themselves. However, nothing seems normal these days, so why should this be? First off, I would like to state how grateful I am to be serving as an affiliate member on the SNGCSA Board of Directors. It is truly an honor to work with members that have Ryan Nichols been such an integral part of the chapter over the years, and I’m looking forward to what this year has in store. My name is Ryan Nichols and I am Nufarm’s Regional Sales Manager in the West. My current territory includes California, Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii. I have been with Nufarm for just over 3 years, however many of our members might remember me in my former position as agronomic sales representative for Sierra Pacific Turf Supply. My introduction to the turf & landscape industry started back when I was a student at Cal Poly Pomona. I was majoring in Landscape Architecture, while taking a course in landscape horticulture. I’ll never forget the day my professor asked to see me in his office to discuss my midterm grade. I had felt like I
TO THE
SNGCSA BOARD
had done well on the exam but was horrified that my actual grade was far from good. The first thing my professor said was, “Are you sure you want to be a landscape architect?”. I quickly replied, “Did I fail my midterm?”. He then said, “No! The opposite. You got an A-. I have never had a landscape architecture student get anything higher than a B!” Later that year after a discussion with my girlfriend (now wife), I changed my major to Plant Science and never looked back. My senior year in college I joined the Turf Bowl team and attended the Golf Industry Show (GIS) in Orlando. GIS left such a large impression on me that I decided I needed take a deeper dive into turf and later applied to UC Riverside for a master’s degree in plant biology/turf ecology. While at UC Riverside, I conducted multiple fungicide and herbicide trials for Bayer, Syngenta, Valent (Nufarm), BASF, and Dow (Corteva). My experience at UC Riverside gave me the confidence to return to Cal Poly Pomona and take a teaching position in the Plant Science department. Two years later I moved to Northern California to work for Sierra Pacific Turf Supply. At Nufarm I spend 80% of my time working with our distribution partners, like Nutrien Ag Solutions, Sierra Pacific Turf Supply, Simplot Partners, Target Specialty Products, Wilbur Ellis, and many more. The other 20% of my time I get to work with our customers, many of you! I would have to say that this is one of the many enjoyable aspects to of my job. Working with superintendents to help provide solutions, both agronomically and economically is very rewarding. I currently reside in San Francisco with my wonderful wife Heddie and beautiful baby girl, Juniper. I love to chase the ball around on the golf course and cast a fly line whenever time permits. I’m looking forward to serving on the board this year and am excited for the world to open back up again!