Ashley

Author Archives: Ashley

December 20, 2011

Lindsey Burke, Breaking Out!

Ashley Williams, SVP, Ag Practice Group

Lindsey Burke walked away a real winner at Technekes’ Annual Meeting and Holiday Event.

First, Lindsey participated in two “Technekes Idol” talent show performances. Ultimately, her individual clogging routine took first place, beating out six other performances, including her team’s rendition of the “12 Days of Technekes.” The talented Lindsey is taking her first ever clogging class. Talk about bravery!

More important, Lindsey won the coveted Breakout Award, which is awarded annually to a Technekes employee who has been with the company for fewer than two years, but has already made a tremendous impact.

The “Breakout Award” trophy is a real working clock crafted from blown out engine parts. Pretty appropriate with Lindsey and her family being in the farm machinery auction business, don’t you think?

Please join me in congratulating Lindsey and dedicating this very appropriate song to her!

Author Ashley

February 4, 2011

A Welcome — and Welcomed — Addition To Our Ag Team

– Ashley Williams, Ag Practice Lead

“It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks,” says the senior account manager who recently joined our ag practice group in Charlotte.

Coming from Maggie Mae Armstrong, that’s saying something.

Born in South Africa (in the same hospital as singer Dave Matthews), Maggie Mae grew up “all over,” before her family landed in Georgia. Even then, as a college student, she packed and re-packed her bags, taking summer internships in Greece, Mexico and San Salvador Island.

Now, though, she says North Carolina will be home. And we’re grateful, because Maggie Mae brings considerable advertising and public relations to our already accomplished team, having worked on such brand name accounts as Michelin Tire, Freightliner, Thomas Built Buses and Cummins Engines. Plus, she’s got the inside track on ag. Not only is she now surrounded by some of the most knowledgeable ag marketers in the country, but Maggie Mae’s sister is an ag scientist!

We look forward to sharing her expertise – all of it – with our clients at Technekes. Welcome aboard, Maggie Mae! (Any chance you could hum a few bars of “Ants Marching”?)

Author Ashley

September 21, 2010

Technekes Team Takes Show By Storm — Literally.

You’d usually find Sales Support Specialists Jodi, Dennis, and Jessica on the phone, talking with growers and retailers, learning about their business and generating interest in our clients’ products. But a few weeks ago, they took their show on the road – all the way to Boone, Iowa for the 2010 Farm Progress Show.

This year’s Show was one for the record books. Severe weather, high winds and pounding rain prompted show delays and changes, but like the United Postal Service, the team from Technekes wasn’t about to be kept from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. Meeting grower and retail customers and positioning our clients’ products live and in person were the key goals. And, they had literally thousands of opportunities to do just that!

“Think Big” was the Show theme, and it was easy to see why. Over 500 exhibitors were on hand, including a display of the world’s largest tractor, “Big Bud,” weighing in at over 50 tons! When our team wasn’t weary from exhaustion, they also had the opportunity to check out plenty of new products and exhibitors – and despite the weather, they still got in a quite a few field demonstrations.

Now that they’ve finally dried off, we can’t wait to see what “big ideas” they’ve brought back home!

Author Ashley

June 30, 2010

It’s A Bird. It’s A Plane. It’s A Technekes Ag Services Rep.

You never know where the Technekes consultative sales or marketing reps might turn up – on the phones, or in the fields, or, as it turns out, up in the air.

These past few months have found our folks:

• Walking cotton fields in eastern North Carolina, to help growers better understand the best timing for applying growth regulators.

• Identifying weeds in sweet potato and soybean fields

• Touring facilities here in North Carolina, to better understand product staging.

• Assisting aerial applicators keep their planes in the sky, as summertime applications increase.

• And, of course, on the phone in the MIC (Marketing Interaction Center).

Any sales and marketing rep can “talk the talk.” But to be the best, we figure we’ve got to “walk the walk” first. That’s why you’ll find our folks taking on so many challenges. Everything, that is, except flying the plane.

So far.

Author Ashley

June 28, 2010

Cultivating a Career

We often boast about our depth and breadth of experience and expertise here at Technekes, but when it comes to ag resumés, it’d be hard to top Nick Flanigan’s.

Nick moved here a few months back, braving snow storms and tornadoes en route from Amarillo, Texas, and he’s got ag experience by the bucketful. Not only did he grow up on a farm, he’s got a degree in Ag Business and Marketing and an MBA. While in college, he twice received the Wayland “Excellence in Ag Business” Award.

Plainly, he was a guy who knew how to watch where he stepped. After graduation, Nick went on to work as a Resource Specialist for the High Plains Underground Water Conservation in Lubbock, and later, joined Richardson Seeds in Vega, writing contracts for hybrid sorghum seed production, inspecting fields and making chemical recommendations for herbicides and insecticides.

We feel pretty lucky to have snagged Nick from the field to work on Sales Support in our Ag Practice Group, where he helps extend the reach and frequency of field sales reps.

And although he may miss pheasant hunting in Texas, we’re guessing he’d pick Carolina blue skies over Amarillo dust storms any day of the week.

Welcome aboard, Nick!

Author Ashley