Alumni Spotlight
Name: Mark Illausky
Current Title: Owner and President
Organization: Free State Growers
Majors: B.S. Horticulture ‘01
K-State College of Ag is proud to recognize alumni from all departments who continue to pursue their passion in their respective fields. It is through experience that we continue to grow as individuals and stewards of the industry. Through those experiences, we hope to be a continued resource for the next generation of K-State students to lean on for advice and continue to build our network!
Why did you choose K-State?
I’m from the Kansas City area, and most of my friends were going to the University of Kansas. KU didn’t have what I was interested in doing. I had a family friend working for Cargill who told me about milling science and it really intrigued me, even though I ended up in a different career. K-State is one of the only universities with milling science. I was also drawn to the small-town atmosphere and the campus.
Why did you choose horticulture?
I was originally a milling science major, but I took a semester off and ended up working at a greenhouse in Manhattan. I really enjoyed the horticulture part and knew K-State had greenhouse operations, so I followed my instincts and got involved. It’s a pretty labor-intensive career, but I really enjoyed it, and it’s what I’ve been doing ever since.
Talk about your early industry experience.
I had a full-time job at Kaw Valley Greenhouses while at K-State. I took heavily weighted fall semesters and maybe one class in the spring. I was trying to get as many hours as possible, and I ended up working my way to joining management there.
School was kind of secondary in the springtime, but I was really getting an education in two places: in the classroom and hands-on in the real world. I could learn something on Tuesday, then go to work on Wednesday and understand what the textbook was saying.
Tell us about Free State Growers.
We have a really good team of 35 employees here. We have a lot of people who have been here for a long time. A lot of people with horticulture degrees and several people with K-State backgrounds as well.
Day-to-day can be anything from overseeing transplanting to production to sales. A lot of what I do is working with some of our larger sales accounts. We have small sales accounts, but we also have companies like Home Depot, Costco and grocery store chains that we ship to and sell to throughout the Midwest. Any given day can have an immense amount of challenges and opportunities.
What does production season look like for Free State Growers?
Early March through the second week of June is really when we’re going strong. It’s exciting. For several other managers and me, it can be seven days a week. We all go home exhausted, but that’s what we’re here to do. We probably do 60% of our business in that three-month period. It’s pretty high-pressure and tiring, but really exciting.
What would you tell students entering the industry?
It’s hard work. In the classroom, I don’t believe we were shown how much physical work goes into some of it. You’re not going to clock out on Friday and come back on Monday to find everything exactly the same. There’s a responsibility you have to take care of and nurture something. I’m not out watering plants on a daily basis. But if I’m at the greenhouses on a Sunday afternoon and I see something that needs to be taken care of, I’m going to do it. It’s hard to teach, but it needs to be shown.
You also need a good work ethic. A lot of people think you’re going to be able to be your own boss. You have to take some time to learn and be an apprentice. Realize that just because you have a degree doesn’t mean you have all of the answers. Experience is really important.
What advice would you give your college self?
I would’ve taken more business classes. That’s something I always recommend to students when I speak to classes at K-State. If they have time for extra hours, take some business courses. That’s the one thing I think I lacked. All these years later, I’m actually a business owner. It took me several years to recover from the things I didn’t know.
How do you stay connected with K-State as an alumnus?
I’m on the committee for the Kansas Greenhouse Growers Association with several other industry folks, including Dr. Raymond Coy and Dr. Kim Williams at K-State. It’s been around for quite some time. It’s an organization of large and small wholesale and retail greenhouses in Kansas. We bring in lecturers from across the country to have good discussions, opportunities and networking to form a community.
We hold our meetings at the K-State Student Union, and some are open to students. We’ve had large turnouts, which is so cool because they get to see firsthand what we’re doing and do a little networking.