Our Directors

Jay S. Miller is a fourth-generation beekeeper whose lifelong connection to apiculture began in his family’s beekeeping business. In 1981, Jay assumed leadership of the family’s honey packing operation in Idaho. After seven years managing that venture, he relocated with his family to central Florida to establish and operate his own packing facility, selling both domestic honey and limited quantities internationally.

Following the sale of his Florida business, Jay returned to Idaho to complete a degree in Marketing and briefly explored careers in construction and insurance. However, the call of the family legacy brought him back to beekeeping when his father retired. Jay rejoined the family operation, managing a smaller hive count in Idaho, supporting the North Dakota production season, and overseeing winter indoor storage for their 12,000 hives.

His entrepreneurial spirit led him to launch his own operation in North Dakota, where he partnered with his son-in-law to build a thriving beekeeping business. In addition to managing 9,000 of his own colonies, Jay founded 2J Honey Farms—an indoor commercial bee storage facility that houses over 35,000 hives for beekeepers across the country. His work also includes pollination services for almonds in California’s Central Valley and apples in Washington State.

Jay and his wife, Jeanna, are proud parents of six daughters and grandparents to 21 grandchildren. A committed community leader, Jay has served on local education foundations, volunteered with the Boy Scouts of America, taught addiction recovery classes at the county jail for over two decades, and organized American Red Cross blood drives—recently earning his three-gallon donor pin.

When not tending bees, Jay enjoys riding dirt bikes, working cattle, harvesting hay, and exploring the countryside with Jeanna in their side-by-side.

Richard Coy is a third-generation commercial beekeeper and co-owner of Coy’s Honey Farm, a large-scale family-run operation based on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. What began as a small hobby in the 1960s has grown into a thriving enterprise managing over 10,000 hives. Richard oversees a diverse operation that includes honey production, nationwide pollination services, and bee propagation. Each year, his bees travel to provide pollination in California and the Midwest, while spending much of their time in Mississippi.

Coy’s Honey Farm is one of the country’s leading distributors of Russian honey bees and is a proud member of the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association. The farm offers high-quality 5-frame nucleus colonies and queens to customers throughout the United States.

Richard is an active member of the beekeeping community and frequently speaks at industry events and local beekeeping clubs. He currently serves as Vice President of the Mississippi Beekeepers Association and sits on the board of the American Beekeeping Federation. He is also a member of the Sioux Honey Association and a past president of the Arkansas Beekeepers Association.

Richard and his wife Julia live in Mississippi and are proud parents of three children.

Tim Wilbanks is a fifth-generation beekeeper and owner of Heritage Honeybee, the nation’s largest distributor of package bees, nucleus colonies, and queens. Raised in Claxton, Georgia, Tim grew up working in his family’s business, The Wilbanks Apiaries, Inc., a well-known commercial queen and package bee operation. From a young age, he gained a deep appreciation for the skill and dedication required to raise healthy, high-quality bees for beekeepers of all scales.

In 2013, Tim and his wife Sarah founded Kalona Honey Company in southeastern Iowa. Their commitment to growing the business and expanding bee distribution led them to acquire Lee Heine’s package bee distribution network in 2016, prompting a move to southeastern Wisconsin and the launch of Heritage Honeybee.

Today, Heritage Honeybee sources bees from premier producers in Georgia and Northern California and delivers them across the Great Plains, Midwest, and Great Lakes regions. The business also offers beekeeping equipment, educational classes, and outreach through speaking engagements. At its heart, Heritage Honeybee is a true family operation—Sarah and their six children, Ansley, Harrison, Reed, Priscilla, Beatrice, and Agnes, all play an active role. Whether assisting customers or showing off their bee-charming tricks, the kids proudly represent the sixth generation of beekeepers in the Wilbanks family.

Tim is an active member of the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association, the Iowa Honey Producers Association, and the American Beekeeping Federation. Through his leadership, family values, and lifelong dedication to bees, Tim continues to strengthen and support beekeeping communities across the country.

Kent Pegorsch is a lifelong beekeeper, educator, and entrepreneur whose journey with honey bees began in 1976 at the age of 16. What started as a part-time job assisting a local beekeeper quickly evolved into a decades-long commitment to apiculture, small business development, and community service.

In the 1980s, Kent deepened his roots in the industry by serving as a Dadant dealer, transporting package bees from Alabama, and marketing his own honey. In 1987, he and his wife Bernadette purchased Main Street Marketplace in downtown Waupaca, Wisconsin. Over the next 30+ years, they expanded the business into a multi-storefront destination, with one shop dedicated entirely to honey products and honeybee education under the Dancing Bear Apiary label.

Kent maintained his beekeeping operation while also building a successful career in manufacturing. He joined Automatan Incorporated in 1988 and rose to the role of Plant Manager. In 2003, he shifted his focus entirely to the family business and apiary, where he now manages approximately 600 colonies and markets honey throughout the region.

An active leader in the beekeeping community, Kent has served two terms as President of the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association and three terms on the Board of Directors for the American Beekeeping Federation. He is a member of the Waupaca County Beekeepers and has also contributed internationally as Vice President of the Nicaragua Bee Project, a nonprofit supporting sustainable beekeeping development in Central America.

Through his dedication to education, business innovation, and service, Kent Pegorsch continues to share his passion for honey bees and inspire new generations of beekeepers.

Charles Linder is a commercial beekeeper specializing in pollination, currently providing services for 15,000 acres of produce. A retired engineer with over a dozen patents, he brings a unique blend of technical expertise and agricultural knowledge to his beekeeping practice.

Charles is passionate about supporting sustainable farming practices and the vital role that bees play in our ecosystem. He continues to inspire others by promoting awareness of the importance of pollination in agriculture.