The Horticulture Development Council has appointed Dr Ruth Finlay as its new technical manager.
Finlay, like her predecessor Annette Carey, will be responsible for the protected crops sector as well as covering the co-ordination of technical matters and some cross panel issues, the HDC said.
“We are very much looking forward to working with Ruth, her applied scientific background and wealth of industry knowledge will be of great value,” said HDC Chief Executive, Martin Beckenham.
“Industry, and therefore the HDC, faces numerous challenges and we look forward to Ruth taking forward individual projects and wider topics for the benefit of growers."
Finlay studied botany at Queen's University Belfast, following this with a doctorate in mycology and plant pathology.
She then spent two years as a horticultural advisory officer at Efford, responsible for the ornamental nursery stock programme before returning to Queen's University as a research fellow.
After a further two year period at Efford as a senior scientific officer responsible for glasshouse ornamentals and plant pathology research programmes, she joined Year Round Flowers, a company dealing with chrysanthemum production, as a technical adviser.
For the last eight years she has worked for Fargro Ltd as a technical development officer and more recently as technical manager.
