In March, Southern Nursery Association named Steve Newton its new executive vice president. He has formerly served as state executive director of Georgia Farm Service Agency and as a special assistant for the USDA Farm Service Agency. He’s also served as the executive vice president of the Forest Landowners Association. I caught up with Steve to find out about his background and what the future holds for SNA.
Q. What attracted you from leaving the Bush administration and joining the Southern Nursery Association?
A. My position with the Bush administration was about service to the agriculture community. This position is similar in that it is about service to the Southern Nursery Association membership.
That includes working closely with colleagues and allied associations. Most of my 20-plus-year career has been in association management and/or working in public sector agencies providing service to members or constituents.
I really see this transition to the Southern Nursery Association as continued service to the producer and business community. I believe some of the experiences in other sectors of agriculture and the green industry will translate well to Southern Nursery Association’s goals and objectives.
Q. What were your primary duties with the Farm Service Agency?
A. Most of my time with the Farm Service Agency was spent as state executive director (SED) for Georgia FSA. In the last six months of my tenure I served as special assistant to the administrator in Washington, D.C.
As SED I had oversight responsibilities for implementing aspects of the farm bill titles in the state related to commodity programs, farm loan programs, disaster programs and some conservation title programs.
FSA in Georgia implements these programs through a network of 83 county offices, 83 different county committees and 350 federal employees at the state and county level. A significant portion of that time was also spent working with farmers to help resolve regulatory disputes via the state committee.
In August I was asked to help implement Sarbanes/Oxley regulations within FSA at the national level as the Office of Management and Budget applied those regulations to federal agencies.
This project, commonly referred to as A-123, entailed coordinating budget, financial and human resources personnel at various levels and locations in an effort to identify and implement needed policy changes at the delivery level to assure program payments were accurately paid and those payments appropriately documented.
A-123 is an ongoing project that will take many years -- if not many administrations -- to completely implement.
Q. You have past experience leading
Forest Landowners’ Association. How is this group similar to nursery growers?
A. Both organizations have family-run businesses at the core of their membership and both groups have essentially the same geographic footprint. Both organizations expend significant effort with improving communication of ideas and concerns by various groups up and down the marketing channel.
Most associations are really about enhancing knowledge to members by providing excellent forums for communication between members and closely allied businesses. The forest landowners’ group had a strong advocacy component. SNA members who were recently surveyed as part of our marketing research project have spoken clearly about a similar need.
They need a connectedness with our elected officials about important issues and legislation that impacts their lives and businesses. With my background in government, we will be working to find the right ways to impact these decision makers and communicate what is happening in the political arena as we serve this important need of SNA members.
Q. What do you consider some of the biggest successes to date for SNA?
A. The obvious success is the SNA trade show in August. The lesser-known success is the tremendous research conference that is held concurrently with the trade show. Many have told me this is the best horticultural research conference around.
I’m amazed at how much cutting-edge information is provided by this conference and the 8,000 pages of proceedings that are published annually for SNA members.
People are coming to Atlanta for the trade show, but they keep coming back for the learning experience. This year’s forum will feature much more than a trade show. We will feature some industry-leading education.
For example, SNA’s tech shop continues to be a strong, all-day learning experience. This year, we will highlight an all-new leadership and business track featuring a half-day session on the how tos of human resources, another on the 12 X’s of leadership and a third session on “navigating no man’s land” -- when your business is too big to be small, and too small to be big. These should be must-attend programs for business owners and leaders.
Bottom line, SNA has had many successful traditions and success stories in its 108-year history, but I believe its brightest days and biggest successes are the ones we’ll create in the future.
As I told the staff in our first meeting, I believe horticulture has a bright future -- and that’s what brought me here.
Q. Do you have any immediate plans for changes with the association?
A. I know the board has spent a tremendous amount of time and energy discussing the future direction of the organization, as any well-run group should.
I will be working closely with the elected leaders especially, Skeetter McCorkle, the current president, and the incoming president Bill Turk, to enhance the ability of the association to provide excellent membership services and find new ways to meet the needs of the membership as production and marketing conditions change.
I want to give things a little time as I settle in and observe before making broad changes. By the time of SNA’s Forum this August, we’ll be in position to unveil ideas about the future.
Q. In the past, SNA has tried to make the SNA show an international event. Will this continue, or will you focus on the national, or even Southeastern regional, market?
A. Transition of leadership affords any organization a great opportunity to re-evaluate its programs, re-assess its strengths and weakness and reposition accordingly.
I have reviewed much of the work the board has undertaken in the last months to strategically evaluate and build SNA into an industry-leading organization. A great deal of energy has already been invested in a full-scale marketing plan to help guide SNA’s next steps as we create the future.
In the bull’s-eye of the future target are the members of SNA. In fact, SNA’s new mission statement states this well.
“Our mission: To serve SNA members by providing an industry leading forum for commerce, innovation and professionalism.”
Of course, all targets have more than just the bull’s-eye, but it’s clear to me that SNA is focusing its energy on serving its members. As executive vice president, serving SNA’s great members will be my prime focus.
Q. Some complain there are too many trade shows for our industry, particularly in the summer months. How will SNA address this issue?
A. We are always trying to do reality checks to make sure that the service we are providing the green industry is relevant and timely. Keeping content fresh and interesting helps alleviate some of those concerns.
While the basics of providing a forum to transact business remains constant, the learning and networking experience at the SNA trade show is constantly being revised. Ultimately the type, timing and location of the trade show is something the membership and other participants will decide. SNA’s mission is to provide the best possible service we can to our members in the best format possible to meet their needs.
Stay tuned for more on this as we cast vision for the future. We’ll have more to say about this topic at the SNA Forum this August. Be there.
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