2023 Brouwer Kesmac Female Leader Award

Thanks to everyone who voted this year for the 2023 Brouwer Kesmac Female Leader Award and made it out to the Turfgrass Producers International Women in Turf dinner. We couldn’t think of anyone more deserving than Irene and we are so happy to present her with this award.
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Irene Gavranovic-Sipes is the owner and CFO of All Seasons Turf Grass, a family-owned sod business established in 1981 just west of Katy, Texas. She grew up on a farm started by her father Willie and wife Gladys that would later become Horizon Turf Grass, where she learned the ropes with her brother Will Jr. and her sister Rachel, who now 4 generations later have been in the sod business for over 40 years.
After high school Irene earned a double major in Economics and Soviet and East European Studies from the University of Texas as well as an MBA from Eastern New Mexico University before returning home to her farming roots in 1999.

Irene saw a need for a sand-based farm in the west Houston area to better serve the golf, sports field and premier property markets. She seized the opportunity to launch the Brookshire Farm in 2000, forming a partnership with her father Willie in what is now All Seasons Turf Grass.

In 2014, Tiger Woods chose All Seasons Turf Grass as the supplier for the first golf course he designed in the United States, Bluejack National. Irene’s Farms have gone on to supply sod for NFL teams as well as the Houston Dynamo Soccer Field and Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros.

Under Irene’s leadership, All Season Turf has become an industry leader in New Sod varieties, ground breaking business practices and new equipment innovation. She is responsible for all budgeting and financial forecasting and even created her own All Season Trucking company to better handle deliveries. All Season Turf Grass is also part of the Harmony Brands network, producing turfgrass for a large variety of big box home improvement stores throughout the state of Texas.

Irene has served as a board member for a variety of industry organizations including past President of the Texas Turf Grass association and later elected to TPT (Turfgrass Producers of Texas) President in 2009 as the first woman to receive that honor.

All Seasons Turf, in partnership with its sister company, Horizon Turf, has 11 farms, 12 varieties, and over 5,000 acres in production, while Irene is constantly striving to find new varieties to provide customers even more choices. Irene is a down to earth, hard working individual who is often the first person you see as Office Director but doesn’t shy away from hopping in a forklift to tackle the loading if she needs to. In the words of her husband Scott; “It’s a family business that works hard to keep their customers happy – because that’s what the Gavranovic family does.”

On August 4, 2023   /   General