9/7/2021 - By Mike Hess

At Harrell’s, we are always seeking the best ways we can serve you. Through quality service, rigorously tested products, and cutting-edge scientific insights from some of the foremost experts in the field. Bringing you a peace of mind having an entire team of experts ready to help you succeed, every step of the way. 

In this article, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Raymond Snyder, Director of Agronomy, and hear his story through the years he has spent in the industry.

How did you get your start in the turf industry?

My story’s a little different than some others. My father has been a professor in our industry for 30+ years at the University of Florida, and he was hired there before I was born. His background and study were in agriculture and turfgrass, so I’ve been directly and indirectly in this industry since the day I was born. I traveled with him and the family to various conferences all over the world. During the summers I would spend time with my father at the experience station in Fort Lauderdale, so even before I knew what I was doing I was participating in turfgrass research.

What was your academic journey like? How did it lead you to Harrell’s?

I moved on to college and I started in a business track, then as I progressed through college, I began to formally recognize that I really like agriculture. I like soil, I like seeing and observing how plants can respond to different inputs. That is something that when I look back on, I was doing from a very young age, without even recognizing that it was a characteristic of mine, or a strength of mine. 

When I got into graduate school my professor, Dr. Cisar, took me to a Harrell’s turf academy in 1996. Dr. Cisar, who was a professor at the University of Florida at the time, basically introduced me to Harrell’s.. At that turf academy I was really formally introduced to Harrell’s and the culture of Harrell’s. That made a big impression on me. I’ll never forget that one of the first people I met in the Harrell’s organization, potentially the first person, was Bill Rayside. This was a very prominent, large event in Florida, and out of all the people who were at the event I specifically remember two people coming up and saying hi to me. One was Jack Harrell Sr., who came up to say hi to Dr. Cisar but he also said hi to me, and definitely Bill Rayside made a point of coming over to say hello. That was my first experience with Harrell’s, and that’s what made a huge impression on me about Harrell’s.

Then I went through my master’s degree and my Ph.D. and obviously studying in the areas of soil science and turfgrass. The summer of 2003 is when I was wrapping up my Ph.D. and beginning to explore job opportunities, I was at an event in south Florida, my father was actually a presenter at the event, and there was Bill Rayside again. I met the guy in 1996, Harrell’s made a huge impression on me, here I am in late summer of 2003, and there’s Bill Rayside again. He comes over and says, “Hey what are your plans? You’ve got to be about done with college?” And I said I was exploring some different things. He says, “Look, I want you to give us a consideration. We’re going to split my territory and we need someone in Brower to Dade county.” 

How did you get started at Harrell’s?

I thought that was really interesting, I hadn’t considered working for what was, at the time, a smaller regional distributer, because that’s what Harrell’s was in 2003. Basically, they were just starting to move into the southeast and starting a relationship with those in the northeast. At the time all I knew was that Harrell’s was a big presence in Florida but only in Florida. I said, you know what this sounds really interesting, because first of all I’m from south Florida and I like south Florida, but number two, I was not interested in going in the path that my father was in terms of being in the academic, university type setting. I wanted to do something a little bit different more directly with the constituents and the practitioners in our industry, meaning the turf managers. Day in and day out with turf managers. There’s no better position at Harrell’s to do that day in and day out than sales. That’s what I ultimately accepted the position for. 

Matt shook, I’d like to thank him, he hired me. When I interviewed at Harrell’s, I remember specifically sitting in Jack Harrell, Jr.’s office. While I was visiting and going through the gauntlet (as it was known) and being interviewed by Matt Shook and Lee Crosby, I went into Jack, Jr.’s office and we chatted a bit informally, then Jack says, “So Raymond. Why Harrell’s?” Which was a really good question. I kind of turned it back and said, well... it’s Harrell’s. From the very inception Harrell’s had made a great impression on me, and it really was about the culture of Harrell’s. That was my answer to him, why not Harrell’s? It’s so focused on people and the culture is just all about helping people be successful. That’s what really made an impression on me.

Tell me more about your experiences, this can be anywhere along the line; when you were in school, when you first started working, when you picked up coffee this morning, etc.

I then did sales for three years. I loved that experience, for me being a Ph.D. and doing sales was about the equivalent of when a medical doctor goes and does his residency. Just getting into the grind of day in and day out, relentless responsibility and working with people, that’s what it was like being a salesman. I always had in mind that I wanted to have a different role at Harrell’s in the future, Matt Shook brought an opportunity to me to move to Lakeland and take on the role that I’m more associated with now. Which is proprietary product development, technical support, and helping to serve multiple functions within Harrell’s to advance our success. Matt Shook brought me in to do that role and that’s the role I’ve been in since. 

What is it like having a team of experts in the field all working toward the same goal?

When I think about the vision for our group (the TurPh.Dudes), I had always hoped that we would have a formal agronomy team. For a long time it was just me, which was fine but Harrell’s was growing, our geography was expanding and it always felt like I was doing a lot of things, but I was spread really thin. I was doing a lot of things pretty well, but not as well and intimately with as many people as I wanted to do them. When my current boss, Jack Harrell, III, brought the opportunity to bring on more Ph.D.’s which was great because we could then get a lot of things done, even more things done better in a personal type of arrangement, if we had more of us. That’s when we brought Jeff Atkinson on, and he was a huge complement to what I was trying to do. We work together really well. We were able to work smarter and not harder. Smarter and more effectively. 

That worked out so well with Jeff Atkinson, that it was another really good idea by Jack to bring on Paul (Giordano). Now we have a three’s company, not a crowd, this is three’s company. Based on that, we really can service all of our geographies much better, and the three of us each have our own areas of expertise, which is great. We complement each other really well, but we share the same vision for the agronomy team. Meaning, creating opportunities for Harrell’s products, but then also servicing our sales team and help them to be successful. Our sales guys are out there on the leading edge, the tip of the spear, and our job is to facilitate their relationships with their customers, and really serve as that team behind the scenes, helping them to be successful. That’s kind of the way I had always envisioned our agronomy team, and that’s the vision that I always wanted to see play out over the next years. 

I also want to credit another member of the team which is Thomas Reed. While he’s not in our agronomy division, he is vital. I used to work with the Specialty Ag group and I always felt like I wasn’t doing as much as I could when I was with them, because we’ve also got 120 turf people, so that was a good move by Matt Shook to bring on Thomas Reed. I want to credit Tom for joining that segment of our business and just running with it. I’ve had a really good relationship with Tom, and I appreciate all he’s doing with the Specialty Ag team, because he’s been very instrumental in helping provide support to the group. Which then allows me, Jeff and Paul to focus on the Turf and Ornamental teams. 

What is your favorite thing about working in this field?

My favorite thing about working in this field is obviously the people that I work with. The customers become lifelong friends, I know their family, I know their children, I know their parents. They become more than just customers, they become friends and family in many respects. They’re all very overlapping relationships and that’s what I really like about this industry. Not just the science about helping to create better conditions on the golf course or the sports field, or the landscape, but it’s the people. 

What are you most excited for coming down the line? This can be any advancements, industry progression, growth specific to Harrell’s, etc.

Down the line, for me, I’m really excited about the direction that Harrell’s is going in terms of Harrell’s having more and more ownership and control over our offerings, over our products. We really are in a position now where we can create unique and innovative solutions for our customers, that are proprietary and developed by the Harrell’s team. That’s what, to me, is really exciting. 

What growth have you seen through the years?

When I started and I look back and see the evolution of what’s occurred now, across all of our internal departments, having a group like the marketing department is just an incredible resource at Harrell’s. There are so many marketing roles that we used to just have to perform on our own. It makes us much more effective within our own disciplines at Harrell’s to have all of these internal resources, that’s been really exciting as well. All of these internal resources at our disposal to help fulfill some of our vision.

What has kept you here for so long?

You know one thing I really like about Harrell’s? And every person who has been my boss at Harrell’s has recognized this, every person I’ve reported to at Harrell’s, somehow they have all instinctively all been able to allow the team to perform their job without micro-management. They provided a vision and allowed us to perform our job and investigate new opportunities just on our own. Obviously, we’re accountable to the management. They give us the freedom and the control to make our own decisions, to explore topics that are of interest to us, and that really allows us to grow internally as Ph.D.’s. Because, you know, when you get a Ph.D. it means that you know a subject matter really well, but the Ph.D. should let people know that we have a desire to learn and to grow. That’s really what that means, that we have an inherent desire to assimilate and learn information, that’s what that means. 

This is the only place I’ve ever worked; this is it. Final thing, Harrell’s has a huge focus on family. Harrell’s has always reinforced to me that the family is important, we obviously have to do our job, and they’ve always encouraged me to take care of the family. I have been very fortunate because Harrell’s tells me to take care of the family and my wife tells me to take care of Harrell’s, she takes care of the house and allows me to travel all over the country. I am very fortunate to have a wife (Jodi) who allows me to take care of the Harrell’s needs, and Harrell’s tells me to take care of her needs. Very fortunate.

Get to know the Harrell’s TurPh.Dudes team. Check out their individual articles:

• Dr. Raymond Snyder
• Dr. Jeff Atkinson
• Dr. Paul Giordano