AmericanHort adds two to its staff

AmericanHort has added two new staff members: Holly Scoggins, the new Director of Educational Programming, and Nicolas Leas, the Digital Web Manager. 

Scoggins has her Ph.D. in Horticultural Science from North Carolina State University and has been a professor in the Department of Horticulture at Virginia Tech since 1999. She has deep experience in areas that include undergraduate and graduate education, research and extension/outreach. She has also led research and education programs in a variety of industry areas.

Scoggins will be based out of Blacksburg, Virginia. She will be combining her expertise with Meagan Nace and help us grow the capacity of the AmericanHort Education Team. She is the president-elect of the Perennial Plant Association and enjoys gardening, beekeeping and saltwater sports like snorkeling and fishing.

Leas was born in Belgium, lived in Switzerland for 11 years and grew up primarily in Dublin, Ohio. He graduated from Ohio State with a degree in international relations and diplomacy and has more than 15 years of experience working in website design and development. His most recent role was with a company in Korea where he designed, managed and developed e-commerce websites in the beauty and pet product industries.

Leas will be the hands-on, digital web expert on our AmericanHort marketing team. He'll be responsible for helping AmericanHort grow and manage our digital content and services including websites, SEO, SEM, email campaigns and more.

He loves to travel, is a fitness buff and is active with Pilot Dogs where he raises and trains future seeing-eye dogs.