American Vanguard announces recent organizational changes

Date:06-20-2011

American Vanguard Corp. announced actions it has taken to strengthen its Amvac Chemical organization. The Company announced the promotion of Mr. James Lehman to the position of Vice President - Sales; the recruitment of Dr. Peter Porpiglia as Director of Product Development; and the hiring of Ms. Jeannie Smith Hemiller to serve as the new Director of Regulatory Affairs.

"The addition of Dr. Porpiglia and Ms. Hemiller to our management team is a reflection of Amvac’s commitment to continued portfolio growth and responsible regulatory compliance. It is a great pleasure to welcome such talented and experienced professionals whose skills will certainly contribute to our future success.”

Jim Lehman has served as National Sales Manager for the last year and as Midwest Regional Sales Manager for the prior 18 months. Mr. Lehman joined Amvac in early 2009 after a successful 20 year sales management career at BASF and American Cyanamid. He holds a Masters degree in Ag Economics from North Dakota State University and will continue to report to the CEO of Amvac, Mr. Eric Wintemute.

Mr. Wintemute commented, “Jim has demonstrated through his many regional and national managerial accomplishments the kind of leadership that we seek for our domestic sales effort. He is energetic, customer-focused, an effective leader and extremely well prepared for assuming the responsibilities of this role. He has distinguished himself through superior achievement and will have the full support of the organization in further enhancing the effectiveness of our sales function.”

Peter Porpiglia Ph.D. joins Amvac after having worked at Arysta LifeScience as Head of Global Product Development. In this capacity he was responsible for globalizing the development of key growth projects across Arysta’s worldwide businesses, and for evaluating new technologies, patent strategies, and formulation innovation. Prior to joining Arysta, Peter was Vice President of Development at TyraTech, Inc., where he developed and patented a natural insecticide line for consumer use and led the early development of proprietary insecticide technologies for human and animal health, as well as for agriculture and industrial pest control.

Dr. Porpiglia has also worked for K-I Chemical U.S.A., Inc. (Kumiai America) as Vice President of Research and Development and for Ciba-Geigy/Novartis as the Director of Research and Development for North America. He has a B.S. in Horticulture (Pomology) from Cornell University, and both an M.S. and Ph. D. from Virginia Tech in Horticulture (Plant Physiology). In his new role, Amvac’s Regional Product Development Managers will report directly to Peter, and he will report to Glen Johnson, Amvac’s Sr. Vice President responsible for Business & Product Development.

Jeannie Smith Hemiller re-joins Amvac Chemical from her most recent role as an Equity Partner and Senior Vice President at StarBrands LLC (an animal health company). Previously Ms. Hemiller was Vice President of Registrations & Regulatory Affairs at Nufarm Americas, Inc. (2003 – 2008); Director of Registrations & Regulatory Affairs for United Agri Products (1994 -2003); and worked for Amvac as Regulatory Affairs Manager from 1989 through 1994.

Jeannie graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from East Carolina University and pursued additional graduate level business education in the MBA programs at USC & Northwestern. She will be reporting directly to Ian Chart, Amvac’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs who will be working closely with her over the next year as she prepares to assume a larger role in the management of the Company’s regulatory function.

Eric Wintemute concluded: “The addition of Dr. Porpiglia and Ms. Hemiller to our management team is a reflection of Amvac’s commitment to continued portfolio growth and responsible regulatory compliance. It is a great pleasure to welcome such talented and experienced professionals whose skills will certainly contribute to our future success.”