BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group regularly publishes articles in leading industry trade publications, as well as provide company news/press releases and informational updates to this page. Other information can be found on our BEST BLOG and the major social media platforms.

FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES: Members of BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group’s leadership team are at times quoted in the media for business and HR insight. For media, press and interview inquiries, please contact us.

Articles, Press Releases & Media Mentions for BEST

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine
What Does AI Mean to the Future of Human Resources in Horticulture? The future is now for generative AI (artificial intelligence), which can create new content and ideas and perform many job functions and will continue evolving in every industry and job title. We are fortunate that a smart group of horticulture professionals is helping educate how to utilize AI in…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine
Why Emotional Intelligence Is Critical to the Horticulture Industry – The green industry struggles with labor shortages, costs, high turnover, productivity, and employee engagement continue— there has to be a better way. BEST’s own Paige Franks provides her insight into the importance of EQ and how it could be an answer…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine
HR Professionals and Growers Offer Expert Advice on Labor Solutions – Everyone is talking about labor. If you’re a greenhouse grower, you know why. BEST’s own Michael Maggiotto will be participating in an upcoming series on labor hosted by “Greenhouse Grower” magazine, covering the topic of onboarding new employees…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE MANAGEMENT Magazine
Cultivate’22: Succession and exit planning: How to prepare for the day you hang up your boots – The Cultivate’22 educational sessions continued with the presentation “Green industry succession and exit planning: Building value into your business” by Chris Cimaglio and Todd Downing from BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine  
What’s Going On with HR in Horticulture? What’s going on with HR?” you ask. Well, frankly, a lot. Human Resources is a diverse collection of disciplines. We all love a succinct answer. In short, human resources includes anything that impacts the people working in and around the business and may even impact the vendors, clients, customers, and consultants to the company…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GROWERTALKS  By Chris Cimaglio
Succession Planning When There Is No Succession  There’s one indisputable fact—100% of owners eventually will exit their business. It could be through family succession, sale, liquidation, closure, death, or any number of reasons—many of which are outside the owner’s control…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine  
How the Right Succession Plan Can Add Value to Your Business. One of the key topics to be discussed at the GROW Executive Summit, which takes place Dec. 7-8 in Charlotte, NC, is succession planning, particularly how making the right decisions can add value to your business. While you’ve worked hard to build wealth and assets, sustaining them over the long term requires strategic succession planning. Join Chris Cimaglio and Todd Downing at the Summit…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE PRODUCT NEWS (GPN)  By Chris Cimaglio
Management — Making the Transition  Do you have a strategy for the emotional side of career transition and exit planning? According to an Exit Planning Institute (EPI) report, over 75% of business owners who sell their business profoundly regret it within a year after the sale. Many owners end up grieving the loss of their business for years…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine  
How Greenhouse Growers Can Plan for Delays in the Supply Chain— According to Todd Downing, Managing Partner at BEST Human Capital, just about all suppliers have urged their customers to order earlier than ever…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine  By Michael Maggiotto, Jr. and Todd Downing
What the Green Industry Can Expect in Post-Pandemic Hiring— Change is the one constant in business, especially in the green industry, where Mother Nature has such an impact. The events of the last two years have forced change upon companies and employees at a faster rate than ever before…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine  
This Month’s Cover Story: Challenges and Solutions to the Timeless Greenhouse Labor Problem— “While our green industry is amazing, we are well behind compensation/benefit metrics offered by other industries, and thus continue to lose great talent to industries that provide more attractive compensation packages,” says Todd Downing, Managing Partner at Best Human Capital Advisory Group…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in FLORAL DAILY  By Ben Molenda and Harrison Downing
Rethinking hiring in horticulture. Strategies for post-pandemic hiring in the horticulture industry.

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in FLORAL DAILY  By Gene Redlin, Guest Columnist
Exit planning: Attracting buyers and investors. In the past several months, uncertain economic conditions have created new opportunities for owners of businesses who can produce cash flow. They can cash out now. The time has not been this pregnant with opportunity for years. Why?

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE PRODUCT NEWS (GPN)  By Todd Downing
Management: Who Wants To Be President?  The horticulture industry needs more leaders to lead us into the future. To develop these new leaders, it is imperative both companies and individuals work together to establish career goals and a path for development.

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in FLORAL DAILY  By Todd Downing
Who wants to be President? Do you have a specific career vision of being the President of a company someday? Are you working on adding professional skill sets that will enable you to take on a C-Level role? Do you have a career dream? As a company, have you invested…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine  By Todd Downing
How to Attract the Next Generation of Greenhouse Business Owners— Do you have a specific career vision of being the President of a company someday? Are you working on adding professional skill sets that will enable you to take on a C-Level role? Do you have a career dream? As a company, have you invested…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ FLORAL DAILY
New stakeholder brings a fresh perspective to BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group
Join BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group in welcoming Harrison Downing to the BEST team. The addition of Harrison brings a new industry focus to the BEST portfolio.

BEST PRESS RELEASE
Harrison Downing joins BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group (PDF)
Retained Executive Search & Human Resource Advisory Group Enthusiastically Expands Firm to Better Serve the Hospitality, Horticulture, and Hemp Industries.

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article at INSIDE INDIANA BUSINESS  By Todd Downing and Ben Molenda
Take a Breath and Think– Despite the immense challenges thrust upon all businesses during the pandemic, the Green Industry has experienced positive, and some would say unprecedented growth.  The stresses you have responded to in running your business with an…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in NURSERY MANAGEMENT Magazine By Michael Maggiotto, Jr.
Strategic HR – How small-to-medium-sized businesses can get the most out of the HR function…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in NURSERY MANAGEMENT Magazine  By Todd Downing
Top-top Talent— As company leaders, our task is to manage the efficient restart of our companies. Regardless of the industry sector or how positively or negatively positioned a company has been through the COVID-19 crisis…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article and Seminar in FLORAL DAILY  By Chris Cimaglio, Todd Downing and Ben Molenda
Succession planning when there is no succession – The events of this year have profoundly affected professionals, with many choosing to retire early. At BEST, they are experiencing an increase in both succession and exit planning in the horticulture industry, and many others…
Watch the BEST Human Capital Advisory Group Cultivate’20 Seminar replay!

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in NURSERY MANAGEMENT Magazine  By Michael Maggiotto, Jr. and Matthew Pope
Post-Pandemic Checklist – A human resource guide to the normalization of business operations. Whether your company has ten (10) employees or ten thousand (10,000), each will be sued the same way when employment laws are violated. Special consideration given due to the pandemic will not save your organization from being one of those. As we look at re-opening businesses…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Opinion Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine  By Jennifer Broersma-Neujahr
How You Can Adapt Coronavirus Workarounds into Your New Normal (Opinion) – I recently posted this same exercise on my LinkedIn page and received some excellent and thought-provoking responses, like this comment from Todd Downing, a Managing Partner at Best Human Capital & Advisory Group…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREEN PROFIT Magazine  By Michael Maggiotto, Jr. and Matthew Pope
Post-Pandemic Checklist: A Human Resource Guide to Normalization of Business Operations – Whether your company has ten (10) employees or ten thousand (10,000), each will be sued the same way when employment laws are violated. Special consideration given due to the pandemic will not save your organization from being one of those. As we look at re-opening businesses…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine  By Todd Downing
Topgrade Your People for Post-Pandemic Success – Regardless of how positively or negatively positioned your company has been through the COVID-19 crisis, we face a new business normal to varying degrees. As company leaders, our task is to manage the efficient restart or growth of our companies and our employees to come back bigger, stronger, and better…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ INSIDE INDIANA BUSINESS
BEST Human Capital Adds Advisor
Miranda Lockwood, SHRM-CP, joins BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group.

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in HORTI DAILY By Todd Downing
Topgrade your people for post-pandemic success – The critical ingredient to company and career success in this new business era will be the people we are surrounded with as we embark on this journey. All organizations are only as…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine  By Tom McInerney, M4 Advisors & Todd Downing

Click here for an interesting and timely article on cash flow forecasting. Tom McInerney strongly recommends to his clients that they invest the time and resources towards developing a basic but often overlooked management tool: a 13-week cash flow forecast model (the cash flow forecast). He takes a closer look at the key components of a cash flow forecast as well as a few of its key benefits, namely in empowering organizations to make thoughtful, informed decisions that are data-driven in nature.

How can we help? Click here for more information on Tom McInerney and M4 Advisors.

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in HEMP INDUSTRY DAILY Magazine
Chart: Hemp salaries outgunning those for careers in mainstream agriculture – According to Todd Downing, managing partner of Best Human Capital and Advisory Group, an Indianapolis-based human resources consulting firm…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine  By Todd Downing & Michael Maggiotto, Jr. PHR, SHRM-SCP
Why a Disaster Plan is Critical for Every Greenhouse Business – Everyone has good days and bad days, no matter where they work. The biggest differences between good and bad days are proper planning and preparation. For a business, there is no worse day than when a disaster happens…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ CropTalk Podcast  By Michael Maggiotto, Jr.
Click here for the CropTalk Podcast. On this episode of the CropTalk series, Kyle Barnett speaks with Michael Maggiotto of BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group about how business can best handle the COVID-19 pandemic with HR strategies and solutions everyone can use to get through this uncertain period.

BEST IN THE NEWS @ CropTalk Podcast  By Todd Downing
Click here for the CropTalk Podcast. Co-host Kyle Barnett talks with Todd Downing, a Managing Partner at BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group, about recruiting in the horticulture industry.

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE MANAGEMENT Magazine By Michael Maggiotto, Jr.
Employee retention in a candidate’s market – Learning and development is the critical retention tool for small-to medium-sized businesses…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in BIZVOICE (Indiana Chamber) Magazine By Chris Cimaglio
Reversing the Drain: How to Bring the Brains Back Home Again (PDF)
I am an Illinois refugee. In 2017, I sold my share of the suburban Chicago company I managed, sold my home, and my wife and I moved to Indiana to start a new business with partners who had lived here for years…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GROWING PRODUCE Magazine By Chris Cimaglio
Is Your Farm Transition Ready? – In my last article, I covered the challenges that farmers face in succession planning. But, not all hope is lost. My company has been a part of many succession plans that have been and continue to be successful, and they all share these characteristics…

BEST PRESS RELEASE
New Stakeholders Bring Varied Backgrounds to BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group (PDF)
Retained Executive Search and Human Resource Advisory Group Enthusiastically Expands Firm. Join BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group in welcoming Matthew Pope and Tessa Rasmussen.

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GROWING PRODUCE Magazine By Chris Cimaglio
Succession Planning Tips for Your Farm When There is No Succession – If there is no family to take the reins of your operation, then the logical choices are to…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in NURSERY MANAGEMENT Magazine By Michael Maggiotto, Jr.
Employee retention in a candidate’s market – Learning and development is the critical retention tool for small-to medium-sized businesses…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GREENHOUSE GROWER Magazine By Chris Cimaglio
How to Manage Succession Planning When There is No Succession – It’s hard to transition when no family is in place to take over, but that doesn’t mean the planning should stop. It is more important than ever to get started…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in GARDEN CENTER Magazine By Michael Maggiotto, Jr. & Todd Downing
The Purple Squirrel – Finding a candidate with every quality you want is impossible, so look for what’s necessary instead…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in NURSERY MANAGEMENT Magazine By Michael Maggiotto, Jr. & Todd Downing
Count Me In – How to Expand Your Candidate Pool…

BEST IN THE NEWS @ INDIANA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group Managing Partner Cimaglio Appointed to Indianapolis Hunger Relief Organization (Indianapolis)

BEST IN THE NEWS @ INDIANA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Senior Human Capital Advisor Earns SHRM-SCP Certification Expanding the Expertise at Best Human Capital & Advisory Group

BEST IN THE NEWS @ Article in LAWN & GARDEN RETAILER Magazine By Chris Cimaglio
Planning Your Succession The future of a business can be particularly tricky when there is no succession plan. Here are some tips…