LAURA DOWLING Author

Author: Floral Diplomacy at the White House

Laura Dowling served as Chief Floral Designer at the White House for six years form 2009 until 2015. As creative director for flowers and decor, she managed White House floral design for thousands of official and private events, including state dinners, parties, receptions and large-scale installations, such as the Fourth of July, Halloween and the iconic White House Christmas. her lush and lively floral creations also graced the White House state rooms, East and West Wing offices, Camp David and the Presidential private residence. As Chief Floral Designer, Laura launched innovative strategic partnerships with the nation's top artists and designers, White House policy staff and the Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) and Presidential Innovation Fellows, creating imaginative, cutting-edge decor and flowers.

TODD JAMESON

Todd Jameson, along with his wife Kathleen Jameson, operate Balanced harvest Flower Farm in Needhham, Shelby County, Indiana. They produce sustainably grown cut flowers and branches, their products are sold to florist shops and direct to the consumer at the Zionsville, Binford and Fort Ben Farmers Markets.

A native of Farmingdale, new jersey, Todd has invested a lifetime in the production and marketing of horticultural products. He was a founding farmer at the New York City Greenmarkets in 1976.

Balanced Harvest Flower Farm is a member of Indiana Grown and an enthusiastically supports the Slow Flower Movement, a philosophy that supports grown-in-the-USA flower farms as well as florists, florist, floral designers and retailers committed to using American-grown products.

Todd currently serves as vice president of the Indiana Floral Association.

JO ELLEN MEYERS SHARP

Joe Ellen Meyers Sharp, a 25-year, award-winning veteran of newspaper journalism, owns Write for You! LLC, a freelance writing and editing business. She was a regular contributor to Indiana Gardening from 2009 to 2019, and founding editor of Iowa Gardener, Michigan Gardening, Minnesota Gardener and Wisconsin Gardening magazines. She edited those magazines from 2012 to 2018.

She's editor of On the QT, the award-wining newsletter of GardenComm: Garden Communicators International. She wrote an award-winning weekly gardening column for The Indianapolis Star, 1989 to 2019. She blogs for several corporations and is a frequent guest on television, radio and web broadcasts.

An Indiana Advanced master Gardener, she co-teaches the City Gardener Program with a Purdue-Marion County Horticulture Extension Education. She is a garden coach and has an all-season container planting business. For nearly 20 years, she has worked at a large, independent garden center in Indianapolis, including a stink as buyer of perennials, trees and shrubs. She's co-author of the Indiana Gardener's Guide, author of The Visitor's Guide to American Gardens, and contributor to Oxford Companion to the Garden and Phaidon's The Gardener's Garden. A popular speaker, she is a member of GreatGardenSpeakers.com, where she has more than 40 five-star rated reviews.

Joe Ellen is president of GardenComm, a member of Indiana landmarks Historic Landscapes Committee, and former director of the Horticultural Society at Newfields (formerly Indianapolis Museum of Art).

Jo Ellen will appear on stage Sunday, March 22nd

carol michel

Carol Michel is the award winning author of:
-Potted & Pruned: Living a Gardening Life
-Homegrown and Handpicked: A year in a Gardening Life
-Seeded and Sodded: Thoughts from a Gardening Life
-The Christmas Cottontail: A Story for Gardeners of All Ages

She is a lifelong gardener with a bachelor’s degree in horticulture production from Purdue University, an avid collector of old gardening books, and claims to have the largest hoe collection in the world.

A popular speaker, Carol has written for gardeningmagazines and regularly writes for her award-winning garden blog, www.maydreamsgardens.com.

She is also part of a weekly podcast, The Gardenangelists: Flowers, Veggies and All the Best Dirt, available on iTunes and other podcast streaming services.

Carol will appear on stage March 16, 17 & 19

kathryn j. reeves

STEVE MAYER

Steve Mayer is Extension Educator-Horticulture for Purdue Extension-Marion County in Indianapolis. Steve has served the public for over 30 years as a horticulture educator with the Cooperative Extension Service. Since 1997 he has provided leadership for the Purdue Extension consumer horticulture educational program in the Indianapolis area. Steve is coordinator of the Marion County Master Gardener program and serves as instructor for the classes. He is also involved with other Extension gardening programs. He writes about gardening for Indiana publications such as the Senior Life (Indianapolis edition) newspaper. Steve is on Twitter @purduehortindy and has a Facebook page for the Purdue Extension-Marion County Demonstration Garden. Steve Mayer is a native of Wisconsin. He majored in horticulture and received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Steve will appear on stage Friday, March 20

MICHELLE RUNYON AIFD, CFD

MICHELLE HERR

JENNIFER BUTCHER CFD

DEREK WOODRUFF AIFD

Derek joined the floral industry at the age of 16 where he began learning floral design in vocational school and working for a local florist. Since then, he has continued to study the trade through institutes such as Michigan State University, the Great Lakes Floral Association (GLFA), and the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD). IN 2008 he launched his own business, Floral Underground. Derek is a captivating speaker who specializes in "today's consumer" connecting and engaging them through different types of media including demonstrations, subscription services and hands-on workshops with both plants and flowers. In addition to being an educator, Derek is considered a "National Floral Design Champion" spending many years polishing the practice of live floral design competition. This love of competition has won him numerous awards in the industry, including the GLFA's Chuck Bannow Award and Designer of the Year (twice). AIFD's Bobbi cup (Thrice), Chicago's Best in Blooms Competition, second runner-up on a national television floral design competition reality show called: "The Arrangement", is the 2016 Sylvia Cup Design Competition Champion and was the runner-up in the 2018 FTD America's Cup Competition.

PATTIE WALLANDER

Pattie graduated from the American Floral Arts School in Chicago in 1993 and began her career. Pattie has designed for many different venues ranging from traditional floral shops to events. She has also worked in wholesale. Pattie has participated in the Art in Bloom event at the Rockford Art Museum for from 2016 to 2019 and has served as a committee member for this event. Pattie has served on the Illinois State Floral Board from 2016 to Present. She received her Illinois Certified Professional Florist certification in 2018. She participated in the Art in the Elements event in 2019. Pattie joined the Tennessee State Floral Board in 2019 and has served as chair of several committees. In 2019, Pattie tested for AIFD and will be inducted in July of 2020.

Susan Yoder

Susan is the Executive Director of Seed Your Future – a national movement to promote horticulture and encourage more young people to pursue careers working with plants.

She joined Seed Your Future in 2016 and brings with her more than twenty-five years of experience working with nonprofit organizations.

For most of her career, she has worked with organizations that focus on youth development and providing children, youth and families with opportunities to grow and thrive.

She is passionate about the outdoors and the positive impact it can have on physical and emotional health. She is dedicated to finding more opportunities to move the traditional classroom outside, thus providing youth with the opportunity to learn about — and in — the natural world.

An avid outdoorswoman and gardener, her personal motto is “Think Outside – No Box Required.”

TERRI STACY

Terri grew up in Henry County and currently lives in Greenfield with her husband, David, of 34 years and their 3 cats and new puppy. Terri is celebrating 34 years at WIBC Radio in Indianapolis. She was the co-host of the Morning News for 22 years, which included reporting traffic for the last 3.

Right now, Terri has taken on the role of a Program called “NEIGHBOR TO NEIGHBOR”, which promotes non-profit events. In 2018, she attended 200 events throughout Central Indiana, broadcasting on air and online. She has more fried fish and bake sale goodies than she cares to mention and is thinking of becoming a competitive eater.

Terri was a 15 year volunteer, reading to K-2, once a month at Central Indiana Schools for the Indiana Pacers "All Star Reading Program. Terri also is a former board member/volunteer for the Indiana Canine Assistance Network and a 25 year volunteer and On Air Host for the Salvation Army Radiothon.

Terri has also received the following awards: 2018 Best Incite Community Service Program for "Neighbor to Neighbor", Indianapolis Woman's Favorite Personality for 2007 & 2008, 2009 Marconi Personality Of The Year nominee, 2001 Recipient of the mental Health Association in Marion County's Ray & mark Houk Award.

Terri will be the stage emcee on Saturday March 14 & Sunday March 15

CHRIS WOOLDRIDGE

MINDY WINKLER

Mindy Winkler (Jarosinski) can be heard weekday mornings from 6am-10am on 97.1 HANK FM with Caleb & Mindy in the mornings as well as on Saturday nights from 6pm to midnight on B105.7 FM.

Mindy has lived in the Hoosier state her entire life. She grew up in Anderson, received her BS and MS degrees from Ball State and later moved to Fishers in the mid 90s where she still resides. Mindy was an Indianapolis Colts Cheerleader during Peyton Manning's first two seasons and has been in the media spotlight for nearly 20 years; from her days as WTTV/WB4 Kids Club Host Commander KC; to then becoming an award-winning radio/television traffic reporter for nearly a decade.

She also created/led an award-winning song/dance program Mindy and The Fun Company which toured the Midwest entertaining/educating children on issues like anti-drugs/tobacco/bullying, character/self-esteem; more. The group was honored with feature articles in Ball State Alumnus magazine and in Indianapolis Business Journal;Women in Business.

Mindy is the proud mom of her son Garrett and the wife to her loving/supportive husband Bob. Mindy loves being active in the community and is thrilled to be hosting this year's event!

Mindy will be the stage emcee on Sunday March 22, 2020

2020 Speakers & Celebrities