Speakers Bureau Bios

Bruce Monke has over 20 years experience managing personnel and projects in diverse agricultural and urban pest management markets. He has a broad background in crop consulting the agricultural industry, Field Development and Technical Service, consumer product development, registrations, early stage development, farm management and R&D management. He has 12 years experience in testing and development of termite, turf, ornamental and consumer products.

Monke is an entomologist by training with M.S. and Ph. D. degrees in entomology from the University of Nebraska. He holds a B.A. degree in biology from Gustavus Adolphus College.

Laurence Mudge
Field Development Representative – Southeast Region

Laurence Mudge has almost 20 years experience in the turfgrass industry, having spent the last 12 years in Field Development and Technical Services. He coordinates and conducts field trails for Bayer Environmental Science products on turfgrass, nursery and ornamental crops to support the golf course, lawn care and nursery industries. Experienced in all aspects of turfgrass management, Mudge has received two US patents for his work with Chipco^® Signature™.

Mudge received both his B.S. and M.S. degrees in agronomy, with a focus on weed science, from Clemson University. He is a member of several industry associations, including the Turfgrass Council of North Carolina, the Virginia Turfgrass Foundation, the South Carolina Turfgrass Foundation and the Southern Weed Science Society.

Ann Wiese
Field Development Representative – South/Southwest Region

Ann Wiese joined the Field Development and Technical staff in 2000. Prior to joining the Bayer team, she worked for Aventis CropScience as a field development and technical service representative. Wiese also worked at the Aventis research farm in Fresno, CA. With a background covering both research and field work, she has a unique perspective on the problems turfgrass professionals face on a daily basis.

Wiese earned a B.S. degree in horticulture from Texas A&M University. She also holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in horticulture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied weed control and entomology. In addition, Wiese has held leadership positions in several professional associations, including president of the Southwestern Entomological Society of America and board member of the Southern Weed Science Society, and is an occasional editor for the Weed Science Society of America.

Ed Vandenberg
Field Development Representative – Michigan and Canada

Ed Vandenberg, located in Guelph, Ontario, is responsible for research and development in Canada and Michigan, and supports registration of new turf and ornamental products in Canada. He spent three years in Field Development in the U.S. after 15 years in product research and development with Rhone-Poulenc Canada. While with Rhone-Poulenc, Vandenberg conducted research and development for a wide range of crop and turfgrass products.

After receiving a B.S. in horticulture from the University of Guelph, Vandenberg completed continuing education classes through the University of Guelph and the University of Saskatchewan to become a Certified Crop Protection Consultant. He has numerous professional affiliations, including membership in the Illinois Turfgrass Association, the Phytopathological Society of America and the Western Forum on Plant Diseases. Vandenberg also served as the industry representative for the Saskatchewan Weed Sub-Council and the Technical Chairperson for Saskatchewan CPIC (now known as Crop Life Canada).

David Robert Spak
Field Development Representative – Mid-Atlantic Region

David Spak earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in agronomy/turfgrass science at Pennsylvania State University. In 1991, he received his doctorate in crop science/turfgrass science from North Carolina State University, specializing in turfgrass physiology, plant growth regulators and herbicides. He taught turfgrass management classes while at N.C. State University.

Spak has held numerous positions within Bayer, and now serves as the Field Development and Technical Services Representative for the Mid-Atlantic region. His expertise includes the development of new products, as well as finding solutions to pest problems on golf courses and in lawn care. Spak has published research findings in Crop Science, Agronomy Abstracts, Grounds Maintenance, and various Weed Science Societies, and has presented results at many meetings and seminars within the turf industry.

Larry Norton
Field Development Representative – New England

As a Bayer Field Development Representative, Larry Norton draws from his varied experience in the golf course and landscape industries. He uses this experience to provide diverse insights into disease, insect and weed control on ornamentals and turf. He has extensive experience speaking on these topics throughout the northeastern United States.

Norton received a B.S. degree in horticulture from Kansas State University. Over the past 19 years, he has worked in the landscape, nursery and golf course maintenance markets. His experience includes six years as owner and operator of a landscape business in Lawrenceville, NJ. Norton participates actively in many professional organizations, including the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, the Professional Grounds Maintenance Society and the Weed Management Society. He is a certified pesticide applicator in the states of New Jersey and New York.

John Smith
Field Development Representative – Great Lakes Region

John Smith has 16 years of experience throughout the Great Lakes Region of the U.S. as a Bayer Field Development and Technical Services representative. His expertise includes the field development of fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides, as well as technical service support for turf and ornamental products. Finding solutions to pest problems in the golf course, lawn care, and landscape industries has been a major focus during his career.

Smith received his B.S. degree in soil science from Michigan State University and an A.A.S. in agricultural chemical technology from the State University of NY. He is a member of several professional and industry associations, including the American Society of Agronomy, International Society of Arborculture, Midwest Regional Turf Foundation, and Ohio Turfgrass Foundation.

Chris Olsen
Field Development Representative – Western Region

Chris Olsen has more than 20 years experience in fungicide, herbicide, insecticide and PGR development. He has also worked in technical support for ornamentals, turf, and crops in the western U.S.

Olsen has served in various capacities, including Field Development and Technical Service representative, Product Development representative and Field Development and Technical Service manager, for Union Carbide, Rhone-Poulenc, Aventis, and Bayer. He earned his B.S. in agronomy and M.S. in entomology from Michigan State University.

Jeff Michel
Field Development Representative – Florida/Southeast

Jeff Michel brings a Florida perspective to the Speaker's Bureau. As a technical director for a large lawn and shrub care operation, Michel developed agronomic programs for southern landscapes and provided training to employees on the fundamentals of lawn and landscape care. Additionally, Michel has been an active member of the industry, participating in the review of the Florida Best Management Practices.

Prior to his work in the lawn and landscape industry, Michel worked with the University of Georgia Extension Service, primarily on turf and ornamentals on the Georgia Coast. Michel received his M.S. in plant pathology from Auburn University. He also holds a B.S. degree in botany from Auburn.

Don Myers
Product Development Manager, Herbicides – Montvale, NJ

Don Myers has 14 years experience in the turfgrass industry. He began his career as an industrial scientist, but is now recognized as a creative analyst who has demonstrated an ability to identify, manage and develop promising new products. Myers has taken a leading role in the development of herbicide projects and testing procedures for new herbicide chemistries in the Unites States.

Myers received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Rutgers University and obtained a doctorate in plant pathology from Cornell University. He later received two post-doctoral appointments at Montana State University and the University of California at Davis. Published in a wide variety of industry publications, Myers has also completed numerous speaking engagements across the country.

Rich Hanrahan
Product Development Manager, Fungicides – Montvale, NJ

Rich Hanrahan is the Bayer North American Product Development Manager for Fungicides and has over 25 years experience in the agricultural chemical industry. He has worked in both the turf/ornamental and agricultural markets in field research and product development as well as marketing. Hanrahan developed Signature and 26GT fungicides and has obtained a patent for fungicide use against bacterial pests.

Hanrahan earned his B.S. degree in biology from Hofstra University. He obtained an M.S. degree in plant pathology from the University of Illinois and an M.S. degree in business administration from Duke University. In addition to numerous publications, he has extensive experience speaking to a variety of audiences.

Nate Royalty
Product Development Manager, Insecticides – Clayton, NC

Nate Royalty is responsible for the technical development and support of Bayer's Green Professional Product line, and for the development of new products and active ingredients. Most recently, Royalty was Global Head of Biology for Aventis Environmental Science, in Frankfurt, Germany and Global Technical Development manager for several new Aventis products.

Royalty held various positions with Rhone Poulenc Company, both in the UK and in Research Triangle Park, N.C. He joined Rhone Poulenc in 1992 as soil entomologist in the Discovery Biology group at Research Triangle Park, where he worked on the teams responsible for the development of fipronil for use in corn and turf. Royalty was leader of insecticide screening from 1995-1998, and manager of global herbicide field research from 1998-2000.

Royalty holds an M.S. degree in entomology from the University of California, Riverside, and a Ph. D. in entomology from the Ohio State University.