Meet the Garden Center magazine staff
Mission statement
GIE Media’s Horticulture Group is the industry’s most trusted independent voice for the latest news, research and solutions, from genetics to the garden, to help drive success for our partners and audience. The Horticulture Group is dedicated to producing the highest quality business media resources through our four family-owned trade brands: Garden Center, Greenhouse Management, Nursery Management and Produce Grower.
Editorial & sales staff
Michelle Simakis, Group Publisher
Michelle Simakis is the publisher of the GIE Media Horticulture Group. Simakis joined GIE Media in 2012 as associate editor of Garden Center magazine. In 2015, she was promoted to editor of Garden Center and helped build the educational track for the brand’s first conference in 2018. She joined GIE-owned Cannabis Business Times, one of the leading trade news organizations serving licensed cannabis companies in 2019, helping shape the magazine’s editorial content and contributing to the brand’s annual event. Reach Michelle by email here.
Kelli Rodda, Editorial Director
As editorial director of the GIE Media Horticulture Group, Kelli seeks out and delivers essential information to help green-industry businesses improve their bottom line. She’s visited several hundred nurseries and greenhouses — from mom-and-pops to massive operations — across the United States. She’s also seen some of the most high-tech operations in Holland.
She resides in Azle, Texas, with her husband Jason and daughter Molly, as well as a gaggle of pets. She sometimes bewilders her GIE Media coworkers, who are based in Ohio, with her odd Southern expressions. She enjoys container gardening and blurring the Hardiness Zones by experimenting with lots of plants. Her favorite plants: the American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua); Salvia sp.; and Viola tricolor. She also enjoys spending time in the mountains and the forest.
Kelli is proud to represent an industry that characterizes hard work, integrity and professionalism. She enjoys being part of an industry responsible for products that do so much for human nature and the environment.
She’s been a professional journalist for three decades, specializing exclusively in business-to-business publications. Reach Kelli by email here.
Patrick Alan Coleman, Editor
Patrick Alan Coleman is editor of Garden Center, Greenhouse Management and Produce Grower magazines. An avid home gardener with his wife and two boys in Northeast Ohio, Patrick is co-president of his neighborhood garden club. With two decades of journalistic experience, he is now deeply devoted to exploring the issues and trends most important to the independent garden center and greenhouse industries. Reach Patrick by email here.
Emily Mills, Digital Editor
Emily Mills is digital editor of Garden Center, Greenhouse Management, Nursery Management and Produce Grower magazines. She plays a key role in developing news stories, producing exclusive online features and continuing to elevate the digital presence across all websites in GIE Media’s Horticulture Group. Emily joined GIE Media in 2023 as associate editor of Garden Center and later expanded her role by additionally serving as associate editor of Greenhouse Management and Produce Grower magazines.
A Kent State University graduate, Emily spent seven years as a newspaper reporter in Ohio before joining the business-to-business publication industry. She enjoys hiking, yoga and crocheting, and she's never met a hydrangea she didn't like. Reach Emily by email here.
Brian Wilgus, National Sales Manager
Brian Wilgus joined GIE Media in May 2012 as an account manager for Greenhouse Management and Produce Grower before moving into Nursery Management in 2014. Over the past 12 years, Wilgus has leveraged his positive, can-do attitude and sales skills to build deep relationships within the horticulture industry and become a trusted partner to many clients. He has been a key asset to the GIE Media Horticulture Group and a leader who goes above and beyond to help his team and service his clients’ needs. In 2019, Wilgus was promoted to senior account manager and shifted his focus back to Greenhouse Management and Produce Grower magazines. Recently, Wilgus was promoted to national sales manager of the Horticulture Group and now also serves Garden Center customers. Reach Brian by email here.
Thomas Vidmar, Account Manager
Thomas Vidmar works across GIE's Horticulture Group publications — Garden Center, Greenhouse Management, Nursery Management and Produce Grower — building strategic go-to-market multimedia solutions. Vidmar joined GIE in 2021 as an account manager, overseeing the company’s sales efforts as part of the Cannabis Business Times team and curating digital lead generation and print campaigns to grow partners’ market share. Reach Thomas by email here.