Turf Commander has been in business since 1989, providing products and services to turf and agricultural clients in the Pacific Northwest. We pride ourselves in offering the finest products available in the market today with the quickest response service possible.
William Wallace, President
William is a Northwest native who at the age of 17 joined the Army in a combat arms unit. He completed two year long tours in Iraq (2004,2008) where he was wounded in combat and awarded a Purple Heart along with numerous other medals for his meritorious service. Upon returning home, he graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Finance and Social Economics and began working for Turf Commander LLC in Oregon.
After serving for more than ten years, he took a medical retirement from the Washington Army National Guard in 2013 and has focused his efforts in sales and building Walking Point Farms LLC (WPF), a Veteran owned re-sale business of agriculture and forestry products to federal and state agencies. In 2015, William Co-Founded Columbia Point LLC, which developed an Organic Fertilizer for Costco. In 2016 he purchased Turf Commander from his uncle, the founder, Michael Madden.
During his time at WPF, he has been essential in growing and developing the company from its inception to becoming one of the most prominent fertilizer and herbicide contractors for the Veterans Administration. He has negotiated a 20-year contract with the Federal Government through a General Services Administration (GSA) schedule and has become a product advisor for various agencies. To support this distribution channel, he has cultivated personal relationships and developed a national supply chain with some of the largest agricultural companies in the U.S.
Howard Boyte, CEO
Howard retired after 26 years as a Deputy Chief from the Bureau of Fire Rescue and Emergency Services, Portland, Oregon. He currently resides on a small farm in rural Washington County with his wife of 31 years. In 2009 he founded Walking Point Farms LLC (WPF), a re-sale business of agriculture and forestry products to federal and state agencies. In 2015 he helped form Columbia Point LLC and in 2016 joined the Turf Commander LLC team. Howard is an active equity investor in the Oregon Angel Fund with a focus on precision agricultural startups. A combat wounded veteran from the Vietnam War his passion lies in mentoring veterans to start and run their own businesses. Howard’s management style as CEO is clearly ‘collaborative’. Early on in the development of WPF he secured a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the US Forest Service, Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State University to investigate the commercialization of ‘Biochar’ a value added soil amendment derived from the processing of forest biomass. WPF has received $150K grant from Oregon BEST to fund this effort. He has extended this collaborative arrangement to West Oregon Wood Products and would welcome Costco as a partner.
Chris Tenney, Vice President
Chris brings a diverse background of business management and consulting to the Turf Commander team. Working with local startups exposed him to the difficulties and key factors to success of running a small business. Time spent leading state and municipal government improvement and development projects has helped him develop a thorough understanding of the government and its diverse set of stakeholders. Most recently, Chris gained experience working with large enterprise clients, including Fortune 500 companies, representing some of the most influential decision makers in the marketplace today. Enlisting in the United States Marine Corps after high school, Chris spent time deployed on humanitarian missions to war torn East Timor, provided security and emergency extraction for the stricken USS Cole, and saw combat in Iraq. After returning home to Oregon, he earned his undergraduate degree in Economics from Willamette University, and his MBA from the Atkinson Graduate School of Management.
Michael Madden, Founder
Michael is a native of Bremerton. He spent many of his early years rooming the fairways of Kitsap Golf & Country Club both as a caddy and player. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1961. He was a member of the varsity golf team at Annapolis and the highlight of his golfing efforts was reaching the semi-finals of the 1961 Eastern Intercollegiate Golf Tournament. In June of 1961 he married his longtime sweetheart, Diane whom he met in Junior High School Orchestra. He completed Naval Aviation Flight training in 1962 and spent 23 years as a Naval Officer and carrier pilot flying high performance jets from the decks of nine different aircraft carriers. He has a total of more than 3500 hours flight time, 200 combat missions, 535 carrier landings and numerous accommodations for performance. Retiring from active duty in 1984, he served as the Naval Science Instructor with the Shelton High School NJROTC program for five years. In 1989, he began a new venture with his own business, Turf commander. “I truly enjoy working with all the fine golf course superintendents and that’s why I continue working every day. They are the hardest working and professional individuals on the planet.”