Atlanta, Ga. – Michael Hobbs, Warren County Nursery, McMinnville, Tenn. was elected president of the Southern Nursery Association (SNA) during the 117th annual business meeting held in August at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta, Ga., according to a press release from SNA. The SNA is a regional trade association serving the horticulture industry in Southeastern U.S.
Hobbs is President of Warren County Nursery, McMinnville, Tenn. A third generation nurseryman, Michael has been active in the industry for more than 40 years. Founded by his father and mother, Leslie and Frances Hobbs, in 1950, Warren County Nursery is a wholesale field growing operation and greenhouses for liner production offering a complete line of bareroot seedlings, cuttings, liners, vines, wildflowers, fruit and nut trees, balled & burlap shrubs, shade trees, ornamentals and evergreens. Warren County Nursery has over 400 acres in production and over the past sixty years has become recognized as a supplier of native plants used in wetlands and reforestation plantings.
Hobbs has served on the Tennessee Nursery & Landscape Association Board of Directors and served as president in 1979 and 1990. He was awarded the Tennessee Nursery & Landscape Association Wholesale Nurseryman of the Year in 1990. He received SNA's David E. Laird, Sr. Memorial Award in 1980, and served on the SNA Trade Show Committee in 2005. Hobbs has also served on the Horticultural Research Institute's Board as well as many other industry committees.
Locally he has received the Jaycees Distinguished Service Award in 1980 and served as McMinnville Jaycees President in 1982.
Other officers of the Southern Nursery Association (SNA) who will serve for the 2014 - 2015 term were elected during the annual meeting. The election, open to all active SNA members, determines representation from the four geographic regions of the association:
Chapter 1 – Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia
Chapter 2 – Florida, Georgia and South Carolina
Chapter 3 – Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee
Chapter 4 – Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas
The complete slate of 2015-2016 officers is as follows:
Michael Hobbs, President, Warren County Nursery, McMinnville, TN
Dusty Knight, Vice President/Treasurer/Director Chapter 4, Plantation Tree Company, Selma, AL
Norman Cole, III, Director Chapter 1, Cole Nurseries, Pipestem, WV
Joseph Napoli, Director Chapter 2, Athens Wholesale Nursery, Athens, GA
Rickey Minton, Director Chapter 3, Triangle Nursery, McMinnville, TN
Richard May, Immediate Past President, May Nursery, Havana, FL