Scotts Miracle-Gro Hires Law Chief in Pivot After Pandemic Boom

Scotts Miracle-Gro Hires Law Chief in Pivot After Pandemic Boom

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. promoted Dimiter Todorov, a organization veteran of almost 15 yrs, to basic counsel, main compliance officer and corporate secretary.

Todorov replaced Ivan Smith this month in an on the web listing of the company’s government management. He took the position in December right after serving as vice president of authorized considering the fact that 2015, the Marysville, Ohio-centered enterprise disclosed in a securities submitting.

Scotts specializes in garden care and house agricultural products and solutions is striving to pivot soon after ramping up output for the duration of the pandemic, when the enterprise capitalized on a US housing growth and a surge in fascination in out of doors routines these types of as gardening. Scotts is expected to announce its quarterly money effects Wednesday.

The corporation, Smith, and Todorov did not answer to remark requests. Neither attorney was between the 6 optimum-paid out executives at Scotts previous calendar year.

Todorov was born and lifted in Bulgaria throughout communist rule ahead of the fall of the Soviet Union, in accordance to a 2016 profile by the trade publication Modern day Counsel.

The son of a Bulgarian prosecutor, Todorov attended law school in the nation ahead of emigrating to the US with his mom and dad and settling in the Midwest.

He went on to spend a dozen decades doing work for McGrath North Mullin & Kratz, an Omaha-based law firm. Todorov manufactured lover at the agency ahead of becoming a member of Scotts as general counsel of the company’s worldwide business unit in 2008.

That similar 12 months Scotts promoted Vincent Brockman to its top rated lawful part, one particular he held until 2013, when Smith took on the posture he would have for the subsequent 10 years.

During that time Scotts expanded its small business. Jones Working day suggested Scotts on its $450 million acquisition in 2018 of Daylight Source Inc. The firm, a best US distributor of hydroponics merchandise for cannabis growers, was folded into Hawthorne, a Scotts subsidiary serving the authorized weed field.

Scotts has confronted authorized problems about some of its solutions, as properly as scrutiny encompassing Roundup, a weedkiller the firm marketplaces on behalf of Monsanto Co., an agribusiness large offered to Bayer AG.

The mass tort litigation related to Roundup has so far spared Scotts, which has publicly asserted its assist for Bayer and declared that its partnership with the firm indemnifies it towards legal responsibility.

Barnes & Thornburg, Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, and Jones Day have collectively had a position on practically 50% of circumstances involving Scotts in US federal courts inside of the previous five many years, in accordance to Bloomberg Legislation data.

Community filings display that Scotts also compensated $100,000 last year to Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck soon after employing the firm for US advocacy function, together with lobbying on proposed hashish legislation.