Me & My Job - Scott Rusch, global product manager, Pan American Seed

Friday, 12 March 2010

How did you get started? I always loved being in the landscape and my parents were in agriculture so I liked it from early on.

I started working for Pan American Seed (PAS) in 2001, as soon as I left college. I spent a year studying pansies and violas and learning the language in Japan and became global PAS product manager for the main bedding plant classes in 2004. I think gardening is a bug, so once it bites, you don't get away from it.

What does your typical day involve? I have two types of days. One is where I spend a lot of time travelling, visiting growers around the world and making decisions about what we want to introduce. The other is office work and doing the forecasting, pre-launch activities and making sure marketing information is sorted out.

What is the best part of your job? I most enjoy being in the green house with growers. It is what I love to do, being around plants and seeing how people use them in different ways. Every market has its own idiosyncrasies, so seeing how people use plants or techniques is always interesting.

And the worst? Emails - always more than you can answer in a day.

What piece of kit can you not do without? The digital camera and my portable hard drive. We have all sorts of marketing photos that we take for promotion but I still find a use for my own pictures to show growers things.

How do you relax? I like to go dog walking, it's very relaxing. This time of year I travel for six weeks straight, so after that I just want to sleep. The rest of the time I spend gardening.

What does the future hold? I really like working for Pan American and I see a lot of opportunities within the organisation, so hopefully I can continue to learn and grow and create excitement in the world of flowers. I don't see myself becoming an accountant any time soon.