Josie has a passion for growth and contribution within actively growing organizations, and is open to discussing opportunities where her technical, data, and managerial skills can add value.
Dr. Josie Hugie specializes in closing gaps in the product development pipeline through good project management, vision, hard work, and improved processes. Her breadth of knowledge spans industry, academic, and government with experience in product lines including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, adjuvants, and plant nutritional products.
Before starting JJH Solutions, Josie was recruited by Wilbur-Ellis in 2013 to rebuild their Western Crop Research team. After establishing strong foundations to allow more regional growth, she was asked to implement similar changes at the national level in a newly created position as Ag Division Crop Research Manager. It was in this role, she discovered that strong R&D foundations within the company needed to be shored up, and that a key to that success would be leveraging R&D data. These realizations led to the creation of her position as Branded Technologies Data Manager where she created a team, processes, and standardizations that allowed leveraging of R&D data to impact portfolio decisions, R&D program decisions, regulatory registrations, and to meet marketing needs.
Josie’s career began as a laborer and technician prior to college in the cotton seed industry. Her formal path in agriculture began while pursuing a B.S. in Botany at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and concurrently working for the USDA-ARS in Stoneville, Mississippi in cotton herbicide research. Her work at the USDA was followed by her pursuit of a PhD at the University of Illinois in Physiological and Molecular Plant Biology, with a project focus on herbicide physiology and biochemistry – ultimately leading to a reformulation of a premixed herbicide newly launched by Syngenta. Upon graduation, Syngenta recruited her to study new formulations and pesticide chemistries as a Field R&D Scientist. Later, Josie moved into a Sales Representative role for the same geography, where she was able to successfully launch products she’d studied as a Research Scientist.
With a long history of educational outreach, Josie has designed and led technical trainings, volunteers as a board member with the California Weed Science Society, and participates in formal and informal mentorships.