Egan Davis, City of Richmond

Egan Davis is the Manager of Parks Operations for the City of Richmond. His background includes horticulture education, managing botanical collections, nursery and greenhouse production, and landscape construction. Organizations that Egan has worked with include the UBC Botanical Garden, the City of Vancouver at VanDusen Botanical Garden, the City of Saskatoon, City of White Rock, Park & Tilford Gardens, BCRPA and HortEd.ca. Egan has international horticulture experience which includes working at Gothenburg Botanical Garden and Klinta Gardens in Sweden, and botanical expeditions in North America, Eurasia, and New Zealand.   

Conway Lum, GardenWorks@Mandeville

Conway Lum has extensive experience in the horticulture industry, with a special focus on retail and pest management. A valued member of the team at GardenWorks@Mandeville since 1988, he conducts many of their in-house seminars and workshops. He has received several industry awards, including “Environmental Star Award” from the City of Burnaby (2005), “Garden Communicator of the Year” from the BCLNA (2006 and 2012), and “Together in Action Innovation and Leadership Award” from the Invasive Species Council of BC (2021). As a Professional Agrologist, Certified Horticultural Technician for Retail Garden Centre, and Landscape Industry Certified Technician, he has a breadth of knowledge to share.  

Andrew MacLellan, BC Plant Health Care

Andrew MacLellan is a professional plant health care practitioner and educator whose practice spans arboriculture, urban forest management, horticulture, plant pathology, and soil health. He is a Consulting Arborist & Training Assistant Manager at BC Plant Health Care, ISA Certified Arborist, Tree Risk Assessor, and Organic Master Gardener with a background in forestry. Andrew connects people with plants, educating individuals and communities on the principles of plant care, soil health, organic practices for maintaining healthy ecosystems, climate adaptability, and diverse plant uses. Working from the belief that healthy ecosystems support healthy plants, and healthy plants are healthier for both us and the environment, he takes a holistic, soils-first approach to plant health care and low-intervention ecological plant management. 

Kevin Wilson, Hardscape Training Canada

Kevin brings 18 years of hardscape installation experience to every class he teaches. He aims to bring a complete picture of hardscaping to anyone looking to seriously improve their skill set and gain knowledge on how to be more precise, professional, and competitive in this modern age of landscape construction. Working alongside the best our industry has to offer, he has been very lucky to be in a position to have such a wide range of useful experience to share with you. Kevin holds a post at the Pacific Horticulture College, where he teaches “Hardscaping” and “Grading and Drainage” in their RED SEAL horticulture program. 

Katie Dubow, Garden Media Group

Katie Dubow is president of Garden Media Group, a second-generation women-owned and run public relations firm specializing in the green industry. Author of the annual Garden Trends Report, Katie presents the report world-wide – from Italy to Chicago. Katie is also a guest host on QVC for Cottage Farms, judge at the Philadelphia Flower Show, the inaugural recipient of the Emergent Communicator Award from GardenComm, president of the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association, and a member of the Forty Under 40 from Greenhouse Product News.  

Mark Bradley, LMN

Mark Bradley co-founded LMN in 2009 based on his company’s need for landscape software that simply didn’t exist. Now the industry’s best business management software, he credits LMN as a catalyst for helping him scale TBG Landscape from backyard business into one of the Top 100 landscape contractors in North America. Since his first lawn care customer in 1999, Mark has been passionate about educating the industry on best practices for building better businesses. 

Now a sought-after speaker and business coach, he regularly shares his insight at events including GIE+Expo, Snow and Ice Management Association (SIMA), the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) and Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association, to name a few. Having recently completed the transition from landscape business owner to tech entrepreneur, Mark is committed to transforming talented landscape professionals into better business owners through industry-leading software and learning opportunities. 

Brad Vandermey, Bioline AgroSciences

Coming from a multi-generational background in horticulture, Brad Vandermey has been working with plants all his life. As a head grower he developed bio control programs for ornamental and spring bedding crops reducing the dependency on chemical controls needed in greenhouse production. He has been with Bioline Agrosciences as a Technical Sales Rep for the last 4 years working closely with growers to develop strategies in IPM (Integrated Pest Management). 

Ruth Eden, Engaged HR

Ruth Eden is the Director of Talent Acquisition Services at Engaged HR and has 20 years of experience in HR and recruitment across a variety of industries. She has held the CPHR designation since 2008 and completed a Bachelor of Commerce from UBC with a specialization in HR. Ruth was the General Manager of a recruitment company and has led large scale fast-paced recruitment projects focused on recruiting top candidates within Canada and internationally. She supports executive leaders with everything from day-to-day people challenges, to creation, execution and implementation of projects related to areas such as performance management, onboarding, and training. 

Brian Minter, Minter Country Gardens

A recipient of the ‘Spirit of Enterprise Award’, the provincial ‘Small Business Excellence Award’, the ‘Order of Canada’, the ‘Order of B.C.’ and an ‘Honorary Doctorate of Technology’, Brian Minter, B.A., is a horticulturist, entrepreneur and co-owner of an innovative destination garden center and greenhouse growing operation in Chilliwack, BC.  Brian is well known from his magazine and syndicated newspaper columns, and TV and radio programs.   Brian is in demand internationally as a speaker by industry and by gardening and tourism groups.  He continues to be actively involved with community organizations, from his two-term role as Chancellor of the University of the Fraser Valley to his presidencies of the Kinsmen and Rotary Club and to being a former vice-chair of BCAA and the current chair of Tourism Chilliwack. 

Kin Cho, BC Plant Health Care

Kin Cho is the Consulting Arborist of BC Plant Health Care Inc. He is an International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist Municipal Specialist with the Tree Risk Assessment Qualification, and a Registered Professional Forester in British Columbia. He holds a master’s degree in sustainable forest management from the University of British Columbia, a master’s degree in environmental management from the University of Hong Kong, and a bachelor’s degree in Geography and Resource Management from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has extensive work experience in the urban forestry and arboricultural industries in Hong Kong and the Lower Mainland. He provides consulting services to individuals and municipalities including tree protection specifications, tree risk assessments, and tree inventories. He utilizes new tools and techniques to promote the use of science and technology in arboriculture.