FMC Announces Personnel Changes

PHILADELPHIA – FMC Corporation announced key appointments for the company's Specialty Products Business Agricultural Products Group.

Appointments include John Miller as sales and marketing manager for SPB; Wendell Codner as marketing manager for SPB; Bill Sommer as product development manager, Timber & Consumer – R & D; Amy Suggars as product development manager, Turf and Ornamentals; and Tom Wharton and Scott Lafave as territory sales representatives, Pest Management Products for SPB. These personnel changes support FMC’s growth plans for the company’s Agricultural SPB announced at the National Pest Management Association meeting in October 2004.

Previously, Miller’s role within FMC included his tenure as sales and marketing director for FMC Automotive Group. After the purchase of FMC Automotive by Snap On, Miller served as executive vice president of marketing and then president of the former FMC Automotive Group. Miller departed from Snap On to spearhead the efforts of an early-stage biomedical start-up company, Contour Med, for three years prior to rejoining FMC. Overall, Miller has more than 25 years of channel management and marketing strategy experience leading companies through start-up, turnaround and high growth stages.

Codner brings to his position a depth of experience and knowledge of the SPB environment where he held positions of sales representative, regional manager and national sales manager. Most recently, Wendell was national sales manager for North America Crop. Codner joined FMC in 1984 after graduating from the Jamaica School of Agriculture and Tuskegee University. During his 20-year FMC career, he developed a reputation as a sound leader with a strong work ethic. His strong process and execution skills will be extremely valuable in insuring the successful launch of several major SPB products scheduled for the 2005 and 2006 introduction years.

As a research engineer, Sommer’s 10-year tenure with FMC has been devoted to the company’s Research & Development facility in Princeton. In his new role, Sommer will be responsible for increasing sales of FMC products in the Timber & Consumer market segments through the introduction of new products/technologies and/or expansion of FMC's existing businesses. Sommer earned his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and a master's degree in business administration from Rutgers University and another master's degree in chemical engineering from Columbia University.  

Suggars has significant project management experience, which spans several companies including TruGreen-ChemLawn, Valent and Watermark Ventures. Suggars completed an undergraduate degree in biology from Thiel College, a master’s degree in medical entomology and a Ph.D. in urban entomology at North Carolina State University.

Wharton has spent the last 15 years with Dow Agro Sciences as a technical sales representative in the southeast. The skills that Wharton garnered while with Dow will support his role as SPB territory sales representative for pest management products. Wharton will cover the territory of Georgia, eastern Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Wharton is a graduate of Mississippi State University with a master's degree in agronomy.

Lafave, also joining SPB as a territory sales representative, will be responsible for sales in the states of California, Hawaii, Washington and Oregon. During the past five years, Lafave served as a Bell Laboratories technical sales representative covering 10 states in the West and Midwest, including his newly-assigned states with SPB. Lafave is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University. He remains located in Rancho Santa Magarita, Calif.