Mountain States Staff

Our Staff

Sales and Marketing Team

	Jean CotE started with Mountain States in May of 1992. Her sales area includes the landscape and golf course businesses in Arizona and all sales in Nevada & Utah. Jean is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a B.S. degree in Agriculture and an alumnus of Project Central, a rural leadership program. Jean has a background in nursery and landscape management. She may be reached at the nursery or on her mobile at 623-764-1027. Her email address is: jean@mswn.com.
	DAN GOODSPEED has been with Mountain States since 1995. His territory includes New Mexico, Texas & Idaho. Dan attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where he studied Hotel and Restaurant Management. He worked for several years for the Marriott Corporation as a Front Office Manager. Shortly after arriving in Phoenix, Dan decided to make a career change and is a self-taught horticulturist. He is our resident expert on plant materials for high altitude gardening. He may be reached at the nursery or on his mobile at 623-764-5989. dan@mswn.com
	Jeff Grass is the sales representative for the retail market in Arizona, and all sales in California. He is a graduate from the University of Arizona with a B.S. in Horticulture and Nursery Operations. He has been with Mountain States since July of 2001, prior to coming here he worked at retail nurseries in Phoenix and Tucson, as well as landscaping. He may be reached at the nursery or by e-mail at: jeff@mswn.com
	Lori Goodspeed is our customer service representative assisting Dan Goodspeed & Jeff Grass. She has been with Mountain States since May of 2003. Lori has two grown children, Rachel and Jake, as well as 2 step daughters, Alix and Teagan. She and her husband Dan enjoy spending weekends in Heber, AZ. She may be reached at lori@mswn.com.
	Janet Rademacher Sales and Marketing Coach. Janet has been with Mountain States Wholesale Nursery since 1985. Janet is a proud graduate of the University of Arizona with a B.S. and M.S. in Ornamental Horticulture. Janet and her husband Bill share a home with Bo, their yellow lab. Janet’s hobbies include traveling and collecting old lawn chairs and other rusty junk for her back yard. She can be reached at the nursery or by email at: janet@mswn.com
	Nancy Venegas is our customer service representative assisting Jean Coté. Since joining our company in 2005 she has worked in dispatch and as front-office receptionist. She and her husband Fred have two small children. They like to camp, fish and travel when they are not visiting relatives at Nancy’s homestead in Wenden, AZ. Nancy may be reached at nancy@mswn.com

Production Team

Ron alewine we refer to this Ron as Al in the nursery so that we can keep him and Ron Gass separate. Al is the production supervisor holding the magic wand over everything, getting it to grow and ready to go out the gate.

ALLEN BENSAL is our Certified Arborist taking care of the tree program at Mountain States from the earliest stages right through to them being ready to head out of the nursery to their new homes.

Peter Gierlach is our grower for the Cochise County operation. He handles a variety of duties including inventory management, quality control and acts as liaison to the Phoenix sales staff.

He started in the green industry in 1980 with Desert Trees Nursery in Tucson and has worked previously with Desert Survivors, a non-profit agency, also in Tucson, and with Plants of the Southwest in Santa Fe, NM. Before accepting the position with Mountain States, Peter organized and managed a small native plant nursery for Pima County in conjunction with the Tucson Botanical Garden. Besides his nursery background Peter is well known for his Growing Native radio show at KXCI Community Radio in Tucson where the tag Petey Mesquitey was coined. He and his wife Marian reside in Cochise County. Peter may be reached at peter@mswn.com

kelly jones Prior to coming to Mountain States, Kelly studied horticulture at Glendale Community College and the University of Arizona. With a farming background, Kelly had his own retail nursery in Buckeye and worked for American Continental Nursery. Kelly started with the nursery handling such varied duties as propagation and much of the work within the office such as taking orders, answering phones and managing dispatch. Two years ago Kelly returned to his first interest, propagation. Kelly may be reached at the nursery or by email at: kelly@mswn.com

rich Menary is the person here who keeps everything working and is in charge of all of the various construction projects.

Order Assembly & Dispatch

HOFFMAN CARLOS overseas out dispatch and will-call area well as handling inventory control.

Gilberto Gonzales

Administration

Julie DePoppe has been with the company since January of 2000. Julie is responsible for our accounts receivables at the nursery. Prior to coming to Mountain States, Julie worked for 15 years with Summerwinds Nursery, a retail garden center. She worked as cashier, greenhouse department head and store administrator. Julie is married and has three grown daughters, a grown step-daughter and step-son, and 4 grand children. She may be reached at the nursery or by email at: julie@mswn.com.

RON GASS In 1969, Ron and Maureen Gass started Mountain States Nursery as a small contract-growing operation that specialized in the production of desert-adapted plants. Under their direction and hands-on participation, the nursery has grown to its current size of 120 acres of container-grown desert plants, with over 100 employees. Ron is a leader in the field of research and development of desert plants and his love of the desert has challenged him to bring that beauty and variety of plants to homeowners, landscape architects and developers. Through the years, Mountain States has introduced over 150 new varieties of plants and many becoming mainstays in landscapes throughout the southwest. Ron realized many years ago that water was going to be a limited resource and began educating people about the benefits of drought tolerant plants. Ron is widely regarded in the industry as an innovator, educator and leader. Ron holds an ornamental horticulture degree from the University of Arizona.

CARREN KANGAS We all love Carren because she is the human resources person at Mountain States taking care of all of our pay checks and helping with those lil problems everyone has from time to time.

	Ron alewine we refer to this Ron as Al in the nursery so that we can keep him and Ron Gass separate. Al is the production supervisor holding the magic wand over everything, getting it to grow and ready to go out the gate.
	ALLEN BENSAL is our Certified Arborist taking care of the tree program at Mountain States from the earliest stages right through to them being ready to head out of the nursery to their new homes.
	Peter Gierlach is our grower for the Cochise County operation. He handles a variety of duties including inventory management, quality control and acts as liaison to the Phoenix sales staff. He started in the green industry in 1980 with Desert Trees Nursery in Tucson and has worked previously with Desert Survivors, a non-profit agency, also in Tucson, and with Plants of the Southwest in Santa Fe, NM. Before accepting the position with Mountain States, Peter organized and managed a small native plant nursery for Pima County in conjunction with the Tucson Botanical Garden. Besides his nursery background Peter is well known for his Growing Native radio show at KXCI Community Radio in Tucson where the tag Petey Mesquitey was coined. He and his wife Marian reside in Cochise County. Peter may be reached at peter@mswn.com
	kelly jones Prior to coming to Mountain States, Kelly studied horticulture at Glendale Community College and the University of Arizona. With a farming background, Kelly had his own retail nursery in Buckeye and worked for American Continental Nursery. Kelly started with the nursery handling such varied duties as propagation and much of the work within the office such as taking orders, answering phones and managing dispatch. Two years ago Kelly returned to his first interest, propagation. Kelly may be reached at the nursery or by email at: kelly@mswn.com
	rich Menary is the person here who keeps everything working and is in charge of all of the various construction projects.

	HOFFMAN CARLOS overseas out dispatch and will-call area well as handling inventory control.
	Gilberto Gonzales

	Julie DePoppe has been with the company since January of 2000. Julie is responsible for our accounts receivables at the nursery. Prior to coming to Mountain States, Julie worked for 15 years with Summerwinds Nursery, a retail garden center. She worked as cashier, greenhouse department head and store administrator. Julie is married and has three grown daughters, a grown step-daughter and step-son, and 4 grand children. She may be reached at the nursery or by email at: julie@mswn.com.
	RON GASS In 1969, Ron and Maureen Gass started Mountain States Nursery as a small contract-growing operation that specialized in the production of desert-adapted plants. Under their direction and hands-on participation, the nursery has grown to its current size of 120 acres of container-grown desert plants, with over 100 employees. Ron is a leader in the field of research and development of desert plants and his love of the desert has challenged him to bring that beauty and variety of plants to homeowners, landscape architects and developers. Through the years, Mountain States has introduced over 150 new varieties of plants and many becoming mainstays in landscapes throughout the southwest. Ron realized many years ago that water was going to be a limited resource and began educating people about the benefits of drought tolerant plants. Ron is widely regarded in the industry as an innovator, educator and leader. Ron holds an ornamental horticulture degree from the University of Arizona.
	CARREN KANGAS We all love Carren because she is the human resources person at Mountain States taking care of all of our pay checks and helping with those lil problems everyone has from time to time.