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Company Profile

Summit Plant Laboratories, Inc. has been in the specialty micropropagation business since 1987, applying laboratory plant cloning and greenhouse technologies to produce planting stocks for breeders, greenhouses, and field crop producers. Founded by Cathy Rivera and Tom Smith in Fort Collins, CO, the business operated as Summit Enterprises for three crop years, starting in a student housing rental that supported a lean-to greenhouse built on the patio and provided a small basement lab. After 16 successful years, the corporation remains closely held by the two founders. While working in cooperation with state and federal certifying agencies, researchers and agribusinesses, Summit Plant Laboratories, Inc. remains completely private and independent of affiliation with any other corporate, government or academic entity.
The corporate office, laboratory and greenhouse facilities are located on a two-acre property at 3003 West Vine Drive in Fort Collins. The production, office, and facilities managers have all been with the company for over ten years. This capable management and facility can produce 2.5 million laboratory plants each year and utilizes 21,000 square feet of greenhouses for the finishing of our field-ready products.
We hope you enjoy learning about Summit Plant Laboratories, Inc. through this web site and welcome your comments and questions.

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Management Bios

Catherine E. Rivera, President and Co-Founder

Cathy Rivera was born and raised in Sacramento, CA, attended public schools there, and earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science degrees in the plant sciences from the University of California, Davis. While an undergraduate at UCD she was trained in plant tissue culture techniques that helped her get a job at Plant Genetics, Inc. soon after it was founded in 1982. After three years in research, product development and sales with PGI she returned to UCD for graduate school, eventually publishing from her master’s thesis in the American Potato Journal. In 1986 Cathy combined academic training with industry experience and created Summit Enterprises in Colorado with partner J. Thomas Smith. She has been President of the corporation, Summit Plant Laboratories, Inc., that grew out of this start-up effort since 1990.

David A. Timm, General Manager

David grew up in Eastern Colorado on a wheat and cattle operation. In high school, he worked on a dairy. David received a Bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University in 1990. While there he worked on tissue culture, seed inventory, and greenhouse and field evaluation on tissue culture derived cereal crops. David began working at Summit Plant Labs in 1991 and assumed the role of Greenhouse Manager in 1992.

Glen Hildreth, Office Manager

Glen moved from Texas to Colorado in 1984 after completing his bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science at Texas A&M University. Early experience in animal and plant cell culture was gained while still in school. His plant tissue culture position at Colorado State University enabled Glen to transition from technical tasks to project management, and by the end of his 5-years at CSU he had gained valuable experience in personnel and laboratory management. After a brief period of entrepreneurship, Glen came to work at Summit Plant Labs in 1991 as Lab Manager. Gradually, Glen’s responsibilities shifted to business and office management. He completed his Master’s degree in Business from CSU in 2002. Today, Glen handles all front and back office duties, financial accounting and planning, and most customer contacts regarding sales and product delivery.

FARIHA SAYIED, Lab Manager

Fariha immigrated to the U.S. after completing a BS in Pre-Medicine and three years of Medical School at Kabul Afghanistan in 1984. After seven years of experience in plant tissue culture research, staff training, and supervising in the departments of Botany and Biology at Colorado State University, she started to work at Summit Plant Labs in the spring of 1992. She has been managing the lab production since that time.

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