The American Nursery and Landscape Association installed Tom Courtright as its new president for the 2009-10 year earlier this month at the ANLA Annual Meeting. Courtright is the president and owner of Orchard Nursery and Florist, a garden center based in Lafayette, Calif. He purchased the nursery in 1972 and has a long record of involvement since then, according to an ANLA press release:
Tom has served as president of the Central Chapter of the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers (CANGC) several times since 1975, and as president of the state association in 1993. He was on the board of Master Nursery Garden Centers for 25 years, was president of the ANLA Retail Division board in 1993, and served on the board of the Horticultural Research Institute from 2002-2004, just prior to joining the ANLA Board of Directors. In addition to his green industry service, Tom has been active in his local Rotary and Chamber of Commerce, and was named the Lafayette Citizen of the Year in 1989. Earlier this year, his community honored him with recognition of Orchard Nursery as the Lafayette Business of the Year.
In addition to that, Tom’s wife, Jacquie Williams-Courtright, is the owner of Alden Lane Nursery, located 30 miles away from his garden center. They met while studying together at California Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo in the late 1960s and were married in 1990. ANLA also selected three new board members, including its new president-elect. OAN Past President Bob Terry of Fisher Farms already serves on the ANLA Board of Directors.
