Past CEO Terri McEnaney and new CEO Jorge Becerra on the next chapter for Bailey Nurseries

In August 2025, Bailey Nurseries announced the appointment of Jorge Becerra as CEO. Fourth-generation family member Terri McEnaney would transition from CEO to board chair. It was a stunning move, marking the company’s first-ever non-family CEO in its 120-year history.

For Terri, the change was a way to step back and set the business up for a future in which the family isn’t active in the business but maintains ownership.

“It’s hard as an owner to step aside and say, ‘Someone can do this better than I can,’ but it’s the perfect timing,” Terri says. “My interests are really in being more on that cheerleader side, being in a role that is more of governance and setting direction, but allowing a leadership team that can really focus on the day-to-day and implement the strategy, the goals that we want to see carry forward.”

Other family members in Terri’s generation were not interested in taking on that role, and internal candidates from the fifth generation are not quite ready.

Ryan McEnaney, marketing and communications manager, and Dan McEnaney, assistant brand manager, are part of that fifth generation. They are part of the ownership group but also have active roles in the business. Ryan manages public relations and marketing for the nursery and its consumer brands. Dan spends most of his time focused on building the company’s consumer brands outside of North America.

Dan says he was supportive of looking outside the family for a new lead executive from the first discussions.

“I’ve always been pretty agnostic to what your last name is,” Dan says. “There certainly is importance to having family continuity, but ultimately, we have a large family at Bailey. We’ve got over 1,000 employees that are all in this together. It comes down to what is best for the business. And we’re just a different company now when it comes to scale and all the different fields we play in compared to the past.”

Looking outside the box

When the Bailey leadership team members began their search for a new CEO, there was of course a list of qualifications. First, they were looking for someone who would share their values. Second, they wanted someone who would maintain and potentially enhance the company’s culture. Third, that person would have a skill set or experiences that could take the business to another level.

That’s what Terri says she found in Jorge. She recognized a connection with him, because he worked for a family business, albeit a significantly larger one, that also shared strong values.

Jorge spent 26 years at Cargill, 18 of those overseas. He and his family moved to Minnesota in 2017 and decided a few years later it was where they wanted to stay and thrive. But in 2024, he was asked to take another international assignment.

“For us as a family, that was a no-go,” Jorge says.

He had a very clear idea of what he wanted to do next. He wanted to stay local and be part of a family-owned company with strong values that aligned with his own. He also wanted to stay involved in agriculture or food in some form. Although he hadn’t originally considered horticulture, once he started researching Bailey, he found that the company was a perfect fit.

Who’s next

During the selection process, Jorge got to know the ownership group, including the McEnaney family, as well as his eventual colleagues, as he was also interviewed by his direct reports.

Dan says the family at Bailey has established a strong reputation and relationships over its history, but an outsider like Jorge brings a fresh perspective.

“We’re not blowing things up and starting from scratch,” Dan says.

Ryan says Bailey’s leadership team has been thoughtful about how to approach this process. He believes having Terri stay as board chair is important to maintain continuity and to provide historical context as Jorge learns the industry. It also creates a steadying presence for the shareholders and employees as insulation from a move that rocked the boat.

While there are still many family members active in the day-to-day business, this is the first time there have been no family members on the leadership team.

“Change is hard inherently,” Ryan says. “We don’t always love to adapt as humans, and to have Terri be there helps balance that, as we move from family-owned and -operated to family-owned.”

For other family businesses that are struggling with their own succession plans, the McEnaney family strongly recommends working with neutral professionals. They received help from the St. Thomas Family Business Center in Minneapolis and several advisers that focus on multi-generation succession. These kinds of experts can help with difficult questions, like who’s next in line.

“They’re hard conversations, and it’s hard not to make it personal, because it is personal,” Ryan says. “It is your family’s business and your family’s legacy. To get to 120 years and fifth-generation, there’s such a small percentage of businesses that make it this far.”

But it’s essential to set your ego aside and take the long view. During the search process, advisers asked both Ryan and Dan if they felt they should be considered for this position.

“We very easily and very quickly said, ‘No, not right now,’” Ryan says. “There’s so much that someone like Jorge brings to the table that can help teach us as the next generation how to be really good shareholders, and how to take that desire for longevity and legacy and to support our employees and customers long-term. He can teach us how to do it better. Then in the future, maybe one of us is in that seat, maybe not, because it’s not about us. It’s about being able to make sure the company can sustain.”

The path ahead

Jorge says the mandate is simple and complex at the same time. The company will remain in the hands of the family. That’s a requirement. Culture and values must remain unchanged. And the business needs to grow.

“The needle that we have to thread here is we really need to grow the business without losing our soul,” Jorge says. “Without losing our identity, what makes Bailey Nurseries a special place.”

Ryan likes hearing that, because while Bailey is a large company in the horticulture world, and while he does believe there are opportunities for growth, growth for growth’s sake is not the strategy that got them this far.

“Our goal has never been to be the biggest business,” he says. “Our goal has been to be the best business, for our customers and our employees for the long-term. To have someone that has that mindset and that vision and the proven capabilities to do that is really exciting for us as the next generation of shareholders, but also for our employees that are at our level and are newer in the business and growing with the company. To see that we’re not operating like a 120-year-old company; we’re operating like an innovative business that’s looking to the future.”

During his acclimation to the nursery, Jorge has traveled to farms and had what he calls his 120-plus-year conversations, in which he meets with a group of Bailey workers who have typically been with the company 30, 35 or even 40 years.

“I can be here for 10 years, and I’ll still be a rookie with these guys,” he says with a laugh.

Still, Jorge feels that he’s gotten a good grasp on the company. He’s curious by nature, and every Bailey employee has been patient and generous with their knowledge.

Terri says the mix of people with 30 to 40 years of experience in the business with new blood coming in with different experiences, or skill sets that can build on what’s already there, can take Bailey Nurseries in exciting new directions.

“It’s a change, but it’s a change that we need and a change that we’re pretty excited about for the future,” she says.

Jorge has heard people say horticulture is a very mature industry. He’s not sure he buys it, however.

“I don’t think there are mature industries; there are mature mindsets,” he says. “If you allow your mind to think in a mature, settled way, you’re not going to see opportunity. But if you don’t allow yourself to think that way, the world is full of opportunity.”

Matt McClellan is editor of sister publication Nursery Management magazine. Contact him at mmcclellan@gie.net.