TPSA Adviser – June 2026

Get to Know Rick Anderson

For Rick Anderson, a career in public health, worker safety, and pesticide stewardship has always been about people. Whether supporting those who grow our food or helping bring new agricultural solutions to the field, he has built his work around service, protection, and practical impact. Today, as President of the TPSA Board of Directors and Regulatory Affairs Manager at NewLeaf Symbiotics in St. Louis, Rick continues to bring that purpose to everything he does.

Rick earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public health from Tulane University in New Orleans. It was during graduate school, through an industrial hygiene co-op at the Monsanto Plant in Luling, Louisiana, where Rick was first introduced to the agricultural industry. This was a formative experience that helped guide his career in stewardship and worker protection.

After graduate school, Rick spent years as an industrial hygienist supporting worker health and safety in a range of settings, including Albuquerque, NM and later St. Louis, MO. In 2022, he returned to agriculture with Bayer CropScience as an Occupational and Residential Exposure Scientist, continuing to apply his public health background to worker protection and product stewardship.

Rick first attended a TPSA conference in Reno in 2023 and quickly became active in the organization. Since then, he has served on the Conference Planning Committee for the 2024, 2025, and 2026 conferences, held roles as Secretary in 2024 and Vice President in 2025, and now serves as Board President. He credits Jennifer Thomasen, TPSA Past President, with encouraging him to get involved and now shares that same message with others.

What stands out most to Rick about TPSA is the organization’s ability to bring together professionals from across the pesticide stewardship community. He values the organization’s member-driven spirit and notes that “our conferences, the topics we cover, and the speakers we invite are 100% driven by what our membership is interested in.” For him, TPSA’s strength comes directly from the people who engage in it.

Rick joined NewLeaf Symbiotics in November 2025 and quickly found a strong fit in the company’s innovative environment. In his role, he works across teams to help deliver microbial pesticides and biostimulants to farmers and growers worldwide. He describes the work as “exciting and meaningful,” and values collaborating with experts across the organization while focusing on compliance and practical value in the field.

Rick’s path to pesticide stewardship grew naturally from his training in public health and industrial hygiene. Over the years, he has supported safe working conditions in a variety of industries, and today he finds real purpose in applying that experience to support farmers and farm workers. As he puts it, he is now able to use that background “in support of the people that feed the world!”

When reflecting on the most rewarding part of his career, Rick says the best part has been “the satisfaction and fulfillment that comes from being able to serve my neighbors through my daily work.” He also points to the excitement of reaching regulatory approval for a new product and helping deliver it to farmers.

Outside of work, Rick enjoys time with his wife, three young children, family, and friends. A lifelong fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, and Missouri Tigers, he also enjoys skiing, hiking, bird watching, and traveling. One favorite family tradition is visiting National Park sites and collecting Passport stamps.

He can also juggle and says one thing he tries to do best is, “support my kids in their interests, from art to T-ball and everything in between.”

Rick plans to join TPSA members in San Diego this February and hopes to see even more new faces get involved. His message is simple: “Invite your coworkers, collaborators, and colleagues to join TPSA and to be active participants!” In his view, the more people who bring ideas and energy to the organization, the stronger it becomes.