OHP expands sales team with new hire and internal promotion

AMGUARD Environmental Technologies, the specialty markets division of AMVAC Chemical Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Vanguard Corporation, announced two additions to its OHP sales organization: the hiring of Alfredo Lara as technical sales manager and the promotion of Joe Grippi to key accounts manager.

Lara joins OHP as technical sales manager, covering California, Nevada and Arizona. A native of California’s Central Coast and now based in the Central Valley, Lara holds a B.S. in plant health from California State University, Fresno.

He brings extensive experience in field research, account management, business development and independent consulting, with a career focused on market development, product launches and customer support.

In his new role, Lara will be responsible for building and maintaining customer relationships, driving demand with distribution and end-user accounts, and supporting OHP’s growth in the greenhouse and nursery segments across his territory.

“We are excited to welcome Alfredo to the OHP team,” said Frank Fornari, director of sales for OHP. “His deep roots in California agriculture and hands-on experience across multiple areas of the industry make him an ideal fit for this western territory.“

Grippi has been promoted to key accounts manager, joining fellow KAM Duffey Clark in managing OHP’s national distributor relationships. Together, the two will divide responsibilities across key accounts, working to develop and execute strategic commercial plans that drive growth across OHP’s nursery, greenhouse, CEA and cannabis markets.

Grippi joined OHP as southeast technical sales manager and has demonstrated a strong ability to build relationships and drive results. He brings a distinguished industry background, having previously served as key account manager for specialty products at UPL Environmental Solutions and, prior to that, as business development key account manager at Bayer Environmental Science/Envu, where he spent 22 years. He began his career at Elf Atochem and American Cyanamid.

“Joe’s promotion reflects both his exceptional performance since joining OHP and the confidence we have in his ability to strengthen our key distributor partnerships nationally,” Fornari said. “Together with Duffey, we now have a formidable KAM team that is well-positioned to accelerate OHP’s growth across our most strategic accounts.“