Terri McEnaney

Board Chair Bailey Nurseries

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Terri McEnaney is Board Chair of Bailey Nurseries, the St. Paul, Minnesota wholesale grower of trees and shrubs that her great-grandfather J.V. Bailey founded in 1905. She is a fourth-generation family member. She led the company for 24 years, becoming president in 2001 and later serving as CEO. In August 2025 she handed the chief executive role to Jorge Becerra, a 25-year Cargill veteran and the first CEO from outside the family in Bailey’s 120-year history. The company remains a fifth-generation family business, and Bailey says the handover came out of “years of planning” by the family, the executive team and advisers.

Career Highlights

• Board Chair of Bailey Nurseries since 4 August 2025, when she moved from CEO to chair.
• Handed the CEO role to Jorge Becerra, the company’s first non-family CEO, chosen through a process Bailey says involved the family, the executive team and advisers.
• President of Bailey Nurseries from 2001, and later president and CEO.
• Returned to the family company in 1991 after eight years at 3M.
• Led a business that in 2017 served more than 4,500 customers worldwide from growing operations in Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and Illinois.
• Was the executive quoted on Bailey’s 2018 corporate identity relaunch under the “Growing What’s Next” platform, alongside consumer brands including Endless Summer Hydrangeas and First Editions Plants.

Professional Journey

McEnaney grew up around the nursery and worked there while in high school. At college she took a business degree with an emphasis on accounting. She then spent eight years at 3M, which she has said gave her a grounding in business that she later brought to horticulture.

She returned to Bailey Nurseries in 1991 and became president in 2001, one of seven fourth-generation family members responsible for carrying the business forward. She has described her focus as the business side, meaning strategy. The company she inherited had started on 15 acres of what the family calls “unfarmable land”, where J.V. Bailey grew produce and ornamentals for the St. Paul City Market. By 2017, GPN reported, it had more than 5,000 acres of greenhouse and field production across four states and more than 500 year-round employees.

As president and later CEO she presented Bailey as a brand-led breeder as well as a grower. In 2018 the company relaunched its corporate identity under the “Growing What’s Next” platform. Explaining it, McEnaney said the aim was “nurturing strong businesses, growing future leaders, and working together to elevate our industry”. The consumer brands, Endless Summer Hydrangeas, First Editions Plants and Easy Elegance Roses, have since been promoted well beyond garden retail, including on the GRAMMYs red carpet and in Times Square in 2025.

On 4 August 2025 Bailey named Jorge Becerra CEO, and McEnaney moved to Board Chair with immediate effect. Becerra grew up in Ecuador, holds aquaculture degrees from Texas A&M and spent 25 years at Cargill, most recently in its Animal Nutrition & Health businesses. McEnaney said the change was “the result of years of planning to evolve our structure”. She called leading Bailey for 24 years “the greatest honor of my career”. Both work from the company’s main office in St. Paul.

Education

She holds a business degree with an emphasis on accounting, according to a 2017 trade-press profile. The institution is not named in any source found.