Sports Turf Manager Association

Abby McNeal, CSFM
For President

Abby McNeal, CSFM is the Turfgrass Manager for the Colorado School of Mines. Abby holds a B.S. in Landscape Horticulture with an emphasis in Turfgrass Management from Colorado State University. She is a two-time recipient of the Rocky Mountain Regional Turfgrass Association Professional of the Year Award, and received the STMA 2005 Professional Soccer and Football Fields of the Year awards.

She has been an active member of the STMA since 1992, and chaired the Chapter Relations Committee from 1997-2004. She was the representative from the professional fields category for two years, then held the STMA office of Secretary in 2005 and 2006, and President-Elect in 2007 and 2008. As President Elect, she oversees the STMA Annual Conference. Abby has served as a Board member of the Rocky Mountain Regional Turfgrass Association, the Rocky Mountain Turfgrass Research Foundation Board, and is a Past President of the Colorado Sports Turf Managers Association.

Her sports turf management experience includes opening Toyota Park Stadium in the spring of 2006 in Bridgeview, Ill. as Director of Turf Management from January 2006 thru September 2007, and serving as the Assistant Turfgrass Manager for INVESCO Field at Mile High in Denver from 2001 to 2005, the home to NFL’s Denver Broncos and MLS’s Colorado Rapids. Prior to that Abby was the Athletic Turfgrass Manager at the University of Colorado.

Vision: My experience at many levels throughout the sports turf industry provides a solid foundation on which to continue to build and improve the role of the sports turf manager. My vision for the STMA is to provide our membership with strong educational programs national, regionally, and locally (thru STMA Chapters). Provide the necessary support to further develop STMA Chapters, because they are the foundation and strength of our organization. I would like to continue to promote the professionalism of the members through advancing the certification program. I want to further the student involvement by promoting SAFE and the scholarships by which it distributes.


Chris Calcaterra, M.Ed., CSFM, CPRP
For President-Elect

Chris Calcaterra, CSFM, is the Sports Facilities Manager for the City of Peoria, Ariz. The Peoria Sports Complex is the major league baseball spring training facility for the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres. He joined the city-owned complex in 1998, and manages the maintenance and operations of the 16-field, 145-acre sports facility as well as the 54-acre Rio Vista Community Sports Park.

His prior experience includes Assistant Field Director for the National League Atlanta Braves as well as working for the University of Georgia Athletic Department. While working for the Atlanta Braves, he was the 1996 Olympic Assistant Field Director for the Baseball Venue.

He was appointed Treasurer in June 2005 to fill out the remaining term of Boyd Montgomery, CSFM and was subsequently elected to the office in 2006. He was then elected to Secretary for 2008. He currently chairs the STMA Website Committee, co-chairs two Conference Subcommittees and serves on the Finance and Audit Committee.

Chris earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from the University of Georgia, a Masters in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University and became a Certified Sports Field Manager in 2003. He served as President of the Arizona STMA chapter from 2002 to 2005. He is also a member of the Stadium Managers Association, National Parks and Recreation Association, Arizona Parks and Recreation Association, and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. Chris achieved the Certified Park and Recreation Professional designation in 2008.

Vision for STMA: I am honored to have been nominated for President-Elect. It is humbling to be part of a professional organization that provides so much for its members, vendors, employers, and athletes of all levels. I want to continue to support the drive for a financially stable organization that contributes to its members. It is key to focus on developing a higher level of professionalism/image in our industry. Continuing in 2009, you will see a dedicated effort to create educational tools and resources for our members, putting your dues dollars to work even harder for you. I am committed to fostering the ability of members to network and mentor each other as STMA moves forward. I share in our common goal to provide safe, aesthetically pleasing and efficiently managed sports turf venues for our clientele.

Dale Getz, CSFM
For Vice President-Commercial

Dale Getz, CSFM, is the Sports Fields and Grounds Sales Manager - US for The Toro Company. He is responsible for sales of all commercial products to the Sports Fields and Grounds Industry. Previously Dale was the Athletic Facilities Manager and Superintendent of Golf at the University of Notre Dame where he worked for 17 years. While at Notre Dame, Dale earned the Harry Gill Award from the STMA. Dale has taught turf management at Andrews University as an adjunct faculty member and currently is an adjunct faculty member at Kansas State University. Dale has published numerous articles on sports turf management. He holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Michigan State University in Forestry and a Masters Degree in Administration from the University of Notre Dame.

Vision for STMA: These are extraordinary times for the STMA and I would be honored to represent the commercial members during these exciting times. STMA’s professional membership will continue to grow into the foreseeable future; this means there will be unprecedented opportunities for the commercial membership. I will work to ensure this growth will provide equal opportunities for all commercial members, large and small. I will also work to ensure the products and services offered by our commercial members will help our professional members provide better playing surfaces for their constituents in a fair and equitable manner. I will work to make sure all commercial members have opportunities to participate in the growth of our association and will keep them informed of board activities that affect their businesses. Finally, my vision is to provide more avenues for business opportunities with our professional members both at the national level and through STMA chapters.


2 Candidates for Secretary/Treasurer

Jody Gill
For Secretary/Treasurer

Jody Gill has been buliding and maintaining sports fields for over 20 years. For the last 10 years, he has been the Grounds Coordinator for the Blue Valley School District in Overland Park, Kansas. He was a co-founder of the Mo-Kan Chapter of the STMA and is the current President. He has served as a Board member for the Missouri Valley Turfgrass Association and as an Advisory Board Member for the Longview Community College Turf Management Program. His crew earned the STMA Football Field of the Year award in 2004. He has also written numerous articles and presented at regional and national conferences.

Jody has served as the STMA Board Director representing the Schools K-12 membership segment since 2007. He also serves as the STMA Awards Committee Chairman, and the Information Outreach Committee Board Liaison. He has chaired the Website and Technology Committee. In addition to STMA Board service, Jody serves on the SAFE Board of Trustees (The Foundation for Safer Athletic Field Environments), the charitable arm of STMA.

Vision: The STMA is truly an awesome organization. Just think about the impact that the members of this organization have had on sports all over the world. Our skills, abilities and efforts help teams and individuals win State, National and even World Championships. I would be very honored to serve another term as a member of this Board. We must reach out to the hundreds of non-member K-12 Schools and Junior Colleges through our local Chapters. To do this, we must continue to find new ways to support, strengthen and encourage our local chapters through new member incentive programs and additional incentives to bring in more first time conference attendees. We have so much to offer these organizations, but more importantly, they have knowledge and skills that will make the STMA even better when they become members. I believe this membership category has the greatest potential for growth. The time is now to market and grow the STMA!



Troy Smith, CSFM
For Secretary/Treasurer

Troy Smith, CSFM, is a 1989 graduate of Colorado State University where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Horticulture with a concentration in Turfgrass Management. He also completed the University of Georgia’s Principles of Turfgrass Management course earning the Certified Turfgrass Professional status in 1999. Upon graduation, Troy worked for three seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. He is beginning his 15^th season with the Denver Broncos, the last eight years, of which, he has served as turf manager at the team’s practice facility in Englewood, CO. He became the eighth person ever to earn the Certified Sports Field Manager status in 2001 through STMA. Troy is a past board member of the Rocky Mountain Regional Turfgrass Foundation and a past president of the Colorado Sports Turf Managers Association. He served as Treasurer for STMA in 2008 and presently chairs the STMA’s finance and audit committee as well as chair of the certification committee.

Vision for STMA: I am eager and excited to run for the STMA Secretary/Treasurer Office. I have been a member of the STMA since 1994, and have seen a number of positive changes in the direction of the organization. As turf managers, we need to keep the professionalism that we have worked so hard to achieve in the last 25 years. I would like to continue to see the STMA as the leading organization for sports field management and research around the world. To accomplish this, we need to engage the SAFE foundation to fund important turfgrass research projects and work locally with each chapter to disseminate this research. We also need to find a way to better fund university research through our chapters. We have worked very hard in the past year for certification and will continue to promote the effectiveness for all of our members in their profession. The STMA has made several new alliances with green industry associations in the past few years. We have seen an increase in membership numbers and other associations recognizing the STMA as the worldwide leader in sports turf management. I would like to see the STMA continue this work and for all of our members to be recognized for the professionals that we all are.


STMA Directors -

2 Candidates for Director - Professional Facilities Representative

Larry DiVito
Candidate for Professional Facilities Representative

Larry DiVito is currently in his fourth season as Head Groundskeeper for the Washington Nationals, who began play at their new facility, Nationals Park, last spring in Washington, DC.

Now entering his fifteenth season in professional baseball, Larry began a career in sports turf in 1995 as Head Groundskeeper for the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox in Rhode Island. After seven seasons with Pawtucket, Larry moved to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he served as the Grounds Crew Supervisor for four seasons at Dodger Stadium. In 2006, Larry took on the challenge at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, where he managed a multi-use field for two seasons for the Nationals and DC United of Major League Soccer.

Originally from California, Larry is a 1993 graduate of San Francisco State University with a B.A. in Sociology/ Urban Studies.

Larry currently serves as the STMA Director who represents Facilities Used by Professional Athletes. He chairs the Scholarship Committee and co-chairs the Conference Off-Site Workshop and Tours subcommittees.

Vision: Having entered our profession without any formal education in turf management, I appreciate the impact that STMA can have in helping our members to grow their careers. The educational resources offered by our association continue to expand. I see STMA as being the primary source for practical sports turf education in the next decade. We need to teach the things that universities do not, such as infield skin maintenance, or enhancing soccer field playability. Our association is in a position to educate people at all levels of our specialized field and improve playing conditions across the country.


Joe Kennedy, III, CSFM
Candidate for Professional Facilities Representative

Joe Kennedy has worked in this industry for 20 years. He currently is the Parks Maintenance Division Manager for Surprise Recreation Campus, spring training home of the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals. The campus is a $78 million facility with a $2.88 million operating budget. Joe oversees 440 acres of sports facilities, parks, city facilities and 103 miles of streetscapes. He manages an operating budget of $7 million and supervises 47 full time employees and 20 to 45 part time employees. He consulted on the last two spring training facilities built in Arizona (Goodyear and Glendale), and previously was involved in the construction and operation of the Peoria Sports Complex, which is the spring training home of the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres.

Joe worked his way up the organizational chart from entry-level maintenance to Parks Maintenance Division Manager, and he became a Certified Sports Field Manager in 2005. He is a Certified Project Manager and a Certified Turfgrass Professional. He was awarded the 2003 New Facility APRA Complex of the Year; the 2004, 2005, and 2006 STMA Professional Sports Complex of the Year; and the 2005 and 2007 PGMS Grand Award for Professional Complex of the Year.

He is committed to lifelong learning for himself and his staff, and has helped coach more than 950 groundskeepers through his training programs.

Vision: To be a leading entity providing training, knowledge and consulting services all over the world in the field of Sports Turf Management . To build on our core institutional identity by leading sports turf professionals of all classifications to unify and empower one another through sharing the belief that we have the power to create and shape how we grow professionally within our own communities. Then year after year, STMA and its people will be regarded as the best and most sought after Sports Turf professionals in the entire world.


2 Candidates for Director – Schools K-12

Martin Kaufman, CSFM
Candidate for Schools K-12 Representative

Marty Kaufman, CSFM grew up on a farm in Ohio excelling in Agriculture Education and FFA through High School. He has an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Turf Management from The Ohio State University / Agricultural Technical Institute. Marty has served on the TVSTMA board as well as a TVSTMA regional coordinator. He has hosted multiple chapter meetings as well as created agendas and recruited speakers and demonstrators. Marty attends the STMA National Conference annually and personally invites others to become CSFM’s. His experience ranges from Golf Courses in Ohio, Michigan, Florida and Australia to Irrigation installation, Minor League Baseball in the Carolinas, two NFL football teams a University and now a K-12 School. Marty is in his fifth year managing the athletic fields and grounds for Ensworth School’s two campuses in Nashville, Tennessee. The Red Gables campus serves Pre-first through 8th grade with 4 acres of athletic space and 15 acres of campus space. The Devon Farm Campus hosts grades 9-12 and is comprised of 127 acres in total with 18 acres of athletic space.

Ensworth began classes on the Red Gables campus in 1958 and then on the Devon Farm Campus in 2004. They graduated their first Senior class this past June 2008. Ensworth is an independent coeducational school that provides challenging academics and small classes. This year Ensworth has over 1,000 students and 192 faculty and staff. Ensworth is a community school that encourages user groups from inside and outside the school programs to utilize the facilities and resources they have to offer. The athletics offered include but are not limited to football, volleyball, cross country, ice hockey, swimming, bowling, golf, soccer, baseball, softball, lacrosse, tennis, track & field, and many other forms of competition.

Vision: My vision for STMA is to continue to grow as an organization, but to offer leadership in growth to its members personally. Agronomics is the cover page of what we really do and who we really are. As STMA continues to improve educational offerings at the national and now regional levels, it continues to grow beyond agriculture and into professional administration. We are all responsible for many different activities, events, facilities, equipment, dollars and people. Balancing all of those with our own personal lives can be challenging. I look forward to growing with STMA and contributing with the social, leadership, and experience skills that I have to offer. I want to see the local level competitively flush with professionalism and results. All categories deserve safe, playable and beautiful athletic fields that are professionally supported with adequate resources — which includes traffic management.


Michael Tarantino
Candidate for Schools K-12 Representative

Michael Tarantino is the Director of Maintenance and Operations for the Poway Unified School District where he has been employed for 25 years. He has been involved in the green industry for 38 years and is currently the Past President of the STMA SoCal Chapter. He has served on the STMA Chapter Relations Committee for the past four years and the Membership Committee for the past two years.

Michael holds a BSBM with a minor in Human Resources, and he is a licensed landscape contractor in California. He is a frequent presenter for many organizations and schools and sits on the Board of Directors for a local soccer club and a non-profit organization supporting a cure for Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy.

Vision: My vision is threefold: to help make the Sports Turf Managers Association the “go to” organization in the sports turf industry, assist in the growth of the organization, whether at the local or national level, and to provide my expertise and knowledge in the K-12 category.

Critical to the accomplishment of this vision will be networking with the existing K-12 members and the recruitment of new members, assisting the national board in maintaining their level of excellence in providing quality educational events to the members and reaching out and building strong ties with affiliate associations.


2 Candidates for Director – Commercial Representative

Greg Dunn
Candidate for Commercial Representative

Greg Dunn has worked for West Coast Turf since 1996, first as a Sod Farm Manager, and since 1998 as the Northern California Sales Manager. Previously he managed sod farms for Warren’s Turf from 1983 -1995, and was a Technical Sales Representative for United Horticultural Supply.

He has been an active member of the Northern California Sports Turf Managers Association, supporting local field days and other chapter activities.

When he’s not at work, you can probably find him on the road at a horse show or at home working with his wife at their ranch (Apricot, Cherry, Plum, Peach, Apple, Walnut, Orange, Lemon, Lime, and Grapefruit Trees) and with their horse business - Maxfield Riding Center. At the Center, his wife Janelle teaches, trains, and competes in the sport of 3 — Day Eventing. He rides and competes occasionally and mostly tries to limit the number of times he gets bucked off of his thoroughbred.

Greg holds a B.S. Forestry, Forest Resource Management from the University of Montana, Missoula.

Vision: The Sports Turf Managers Association has united its members with a common vision through education and business contacts. My vision is to provide all members of the association with the tools, resources, and a network of contacts to become more visible. Becoming more visible at work and in our personal lives is all of our responsibilities. We all can create a safer, greener, healthier “Field of Dreams” for everyone by sharing our vision and experience to all. This mission and vision will never be complete. However, all of us must always be willing to speak out and become “activists”. We all have the responsibility to speak out and to help educate and inform “John Q. Public”. Information from STMA members can positively influence decision-makers and help to base decisions on education, experiences, and facts.


Chad Price, CSFM
Candidate for Commercial Representative

Chad Price is President of Carolina Green Corp., a licensed sports field contractor specializing in design, construction and renovation of natural, modified, sand based and synthetic sports fields throughout the southeast. Carolina Green performs both private and public work at professional, college & university, high school and recreational levels. Chad has worked in sports field construction, renovation and maintenance for 20 years and has been actively involved with STMA at both he local and national levels. He holds a BS in Agronomy from Virginia Tech and is a Certified Sports Field Manager (CSFM).

Chad was appointed to the Commercial Director position in 2008 to fill the remaining term of Commercial Director Dale Getz. He serves as the Vice-Chair of the Conference Exhibition Committee and the Board Liaison to the Editorial Committee.

Vision: STMA has grown into a stable organization with a substantial membership. The collective expertise of its members have helped to position the organization as a global authority and resource for sports turf managers. We have an opportunity to take this organization to the next level of providing increased members services. My vision for the STMA is to continue building the platform to support our members through education, certification, and green industry resources. The end result will be increased recognition, both professionally and through pay and benefits, for the degree of skill and expertise required of sports turf managers.


3 Candidates for Director-At-Large

Jimmy Rodgers, CSFM
Candidate for Director-At-Large

Since 2005, Jimmy Rodgers has been employed by Luck Stone Corporation, a Virginia-based stone aggregate company that has peripheral business interests in the sand and soils markets. Jimmy leads the Special Products division within Luck Stone, which manufactures and produces specialty soil and sand blended products, marketed directly to Sports Field Managers and Golf Course Superintendents throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

Prior to his present employment in the commercial industry, Jimmy worked as a Sports Field Manager in the professional and college segments. From December of 2004, through 2005, Jimmy was asked to be the inaugural Head Groundskeeper for the Washington Nationals of MLB. While serving as the Nationals Head Groundskeeper at RFK Stadium, MLS also had a soccer team, DC United, utilizing the playing surface.
Previously, Jimmy served as the Sports Field Manager at the University of Virginia.

Jimmy has been a member of the STMA for 12 years. He gained his CSFM in 2004 and served for one year on the STMA Board of Directors. He currently serves on the STMA Bylaws Committee and served on the Governance Task Force this past year. He also holds the Officer of Treasurer for the Virginia STMA Chapter.

Vision: My vision is two-fold: First, we need a greater degree of professionalism within our ranks. Professionalism comes in many different forms and ways, and I believe that our Association has made great strides in selling to our clientele what it is that sports field managers do, and/or can do. However, we need sustained and active participation from the membership to carry these ideals home.
Secondly, we as sports field managers need to be committed to education. Education comes in many forms as well. Experience is probably the biggest educator, but experience will only take a field manager so far. STMA, along with the chapter associations, present excellent educative opportunities that must be realized and taken advantage of by our membership. In addition to the Field Days, the seminars, and the conferences held monthly, other educational avenues are also available to our membership. Our membership roster is loaded with people who will help solve problems and troubleshoot ideas. Our collective membership needs to realize and take advantage of this waiting source of education.


David Schlotthauer
Candidate for Director-At-Large

David Schlotthauer joined the Brigham Young University’s Grounds Department in 1979. He has been working as the Sports Turf Manager since 2000. David’s responsibilities include all of the BYU’s turfgrass, which covers 50 acres of sport fields, including BYU’s LeVell Edwards Stadium, and more than 100 acres of turf on BYU’s academic campus. His other responsibilities include weed control of BYU’s vacant lots.

Before becoming the Sports Turf Manager, David worked for 21 years as one of two Arborists that BYU employs. While working at BYU’s Grounds Department David continued to work towards his Bachelors Degree, which he obtained in 1992.

He has been a member of the Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) since 2002. David has served on the Bylaws Committee, the Natural/Synthetic Turf Task Force, the Information Outreach Committee, The Playing Conditions Index Task Force, the Conference Education Subcommittee, and is participating in the NTEP Traffic Study. On the chapter level, David currently serves as the President of the Intermountain Chapter of the SportsTurf Managers Association (IMSTMA) and is starting his third term.

V ision: STMA should continue to be the number one information and educational resource for the Sports Turf Manager. I believe this can be accomplished by providing information and educational resources to its members through published guides, bulletins, and to make more of this information available on STMA's website. I believe the STMA Chapters are the foundation that the entire organization is built on, and the STMA national organization should make additional resources available to our Chapter Affiliates. In turn, the chapters can make these additional resources available to their members and the chapter members can use these resources to reach out to more non-STMA members involved in the turf management industry.


John Sorochan, Ph.D.
Candidate for Director-At-Large

John Sorochan, Ph.D. , is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences for the University of Tennessee, where he is responsible for turfgrass research and teaching. He serves on the STMA Conference Education and Information Outreach Committees and has served on its Scholarship Committee. He is a member of the Tennessee Valley STMA Chapter, has been a member of the STMA since 1995.

John serves on the STMA Information Outreach and the Conference Education Committees and previously served on the Scholarship Committee.

A native of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, John began working on the grounds crew at Earl Grey Golf and Country Club in 1988. He attended Michigan State University (MSU) and graduated from the 2-year Golf Turfgrass Management Program in 1993. John starting working for Dr. John (Trey) Rogers, III and Dr. John Stier (University of Wisconsin) for the Pontiac Silverdome World Cup Soccer Project. Enjoying the sports turf research, he began his Masters of Science research while being duo enrolled as an undergraduate and graduate student in 1995. He graduated with a Masters of Science Degree in Crop and Soil Sciences (MSU) in 1999. During his Masters, John became Dr. Trey Rogers’ Research Technician responsible for all sports turf research being conducted at MSU. In 2007, John won the W.F. & Golda Moss Outstanding Teaching Award for the University of Tennessee College of Ag and Natural Resources, but his proudest accomplishment since being at UT has been the success of his students as STMA scholarship winners and the student challenge trophy in 2007.

Vision for STMA: As an STMA Board Member, I envision my role as continuing the excellent growth of the association and public awareness of the professionalism of the industry. I think it is important for the STMA to be recognized as a major resource for all people involved in the turfgrass industry from sports turf managers to commercial turf professionals to academicians. It would be a goal of mine to have more university academicians and students actively involved with the STMA.


Click here to read the bios for the returning 2009 Board Members