Philips Lighting adds Ries Neuteboom and Jan Chechalk to LED solutions unit

Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Philips Lighting announced the addition of two staff members to its Horticulture LED Solutions business unit in North America. Ries Neuteboom and Jan Chechalk both focus on high-wire fruits and vegetable food crops as part of the North America support team. Neuteboom is working as Key Account Manager and Chechalk as Plant Specialist in tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.

“I am happy to add both Ries and Jan to the team in North America,” said Ron DeKok, Director of North America Horticulture at Philips Lighting. “Ries has a wealth of experience working with innovative growers in Europe that have already adopted LED technology, and can offer his LED technical expertise and seamlessly transfer this knowledge to North American growers.”

Neuteboom has worked at Philips Lighting since 2013, where he was Key Account Manager for the Benelux region of Philips Lighting Horticulture. Under his leadership in the Benelux region, Neuteboom helped the adoption of horticulture light technology for commercial growers. In his new duties he is responsible for western North America of the high-wire fruits and vegetables, soft fruits, lettuce and leafy greens, and specialty crops segments. Neuteboom is a graduate of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. He is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Chechalk comes to Philips Lighting with extensive experience in vegetative crops, working at both Amco (tomatoes) and W Martens Greenhouses (high-wire and traditional cucumbers) in his native Ontario, Canada. He has also worked in ornamental crop production at the Ontario greenhouse firms Lakeshore, Bayview and Cederway Floral. Chechalk completed the Greenhouse Technician program at Niagara College.

“As the newest addition to the Philips global team of plant specialists, Jan’s education and years of hands-on greenhouse experience give him insight into and understanding of the challenges that growers face when trying to optimize crop production,” DeKok said. “Now he can share with growers the proven benefits that LED lighting brings to high-wire crops.”