Ray Grover
Vernon Meacham
Ray is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Chemistry. He also earned an MBA from Georgia State University. Ray has held various positions in the fertilizer and agribusiness areas. Early in his career, he worked at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), where he was part of the development team for Osmocote, a controlled-release fertilizer. Additionally, Ray worked in the market development department of Armour Agricultural Chemical Company, providing support to both lawn and garden and agricultural marketing areas. He spent 20 years with Royster Company in a variety of market research, corporate development, and administrative positions. Ray was Executive Vice President of Nitrex and had direct responsibility for two nitrogen production facilities which produced in excess of 1.5 million tons of various nitrogen products annually. Ray spent 15 years as Executive Vice President of Harmony Products specializing in developing production methods and markets for organic-based fertilizers.
Vernon has a bachelor’s degree in animal science and a master’s degree in animal nutrition from Virginia Tech. He joined Harmony Products, Inc. in 1990 as plant manager of the first Harmony Products production facility in Chesapeake, VA. He had worked previously with Agri-Nutrients Technology Group, Petersburg, VA, helping to develop the patented Harmony “Bridge Product” technology combining methylene urea and organics to form granular homogenous fertilizers and ruminant animal feeds. During his time with Harmony Products, he moved from plant manager to Vice President of Operations and Technology and helped further improve the Harmony technology. Meacham was instrumental in the design, start-up, and operation of three continuous Harmony technology plants, utilizing both poultry manure and biosolids. He also worked to license the Harmony technology both domestically and in Ukraine and Australia. Since 2005, he has been at Virginia Tech in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and is currently Assistant Dean of Advancement for the college.