CVAS is staffed by over 85 dedicated employees working out of three lab locations. Below are a number of key "go to" people that interface routinely with clients and support personnel in the industry. These folks may be reached by calling 301-790-1980 (800-CVAS-LAB) or by sending an e-mail to: mail@foragelab.com.
Front Office:
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Becky is probably the best known of our "front line" people answering the phone and taking care of myriad requests.
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Also in our front office fielding customer calls and requests are Charity, Nancy, Gayle, and Sarah.
Office Manager:
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Christy, our office manager, has been around long enough to see much change and growth at CVAS. She handles key administrative work of the lab and is one of the best "go to" people for problems or involved adminstrative questions.
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Accounting:
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Janet handles much of the accounting work for the lab and is the person to consult for any questions related to invoicing.
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Jeff, our controller, ensures that we stay on track financially as we continue to offer our clients the most innovative and cost-effective analysis in the industry.
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Research and Methods development:
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Gaurav, our Research and Methods Development Specialist is responsible for introducing advanced analytical chemistry techniques and manages the development of new methods including mycotoxin analysis and amino acid evaluations.
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International accounts and permits, NIR technology development:
| Sharon has been with us almost 15 years. Her roles include administration of international accounts and permits, NIR technology development, lab purchasing, certification programs, and some instrument support and troubleshooting. |
NIR technology development:
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Becky, coordinates our water testing and is also one of our key NIR equation development specialists. Becky is astute in lab equipment support and troubleshooting. |
Coordination of special projects:
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Matt, our Manager of Technical Services, is often found either behind a phone answering technical questions or working his way through myriad spreadsheet data for key analytical or research projects. |
Information Technology and Development:
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Dave is our Director of Information Technology and Business Development. He keeps us at the forefront of new technology development and assists in maintaining CVAS global business interests. |
Client relations and Operations:
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Cliff is our Director of Operations and Client Relations. He is often found on the phone help a client or keeping the day to day operations of the lab running smoothly. |
Owner and President:
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Ralph Ward is the founder and owner of CVAS, one of the largest forage testing labs in the United States.
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About Ralph: A graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Ralph spent a number of years involved in on-farm dairy nutrition work. He started CVAS in 1992 as he saw a need for more extensive forage diagnostic services for dairy nutritionists and their clients. With a focus on chemistry analysis and application of non-traditional forage evaluation techniques, CVAS has grown to over 70 employees in five U.S. locations. Ralph was the first to commercialize the use of the "fermentation analysis" in the U.S. and is one of the leaders in the development of invitro fiber and starch digestibility services.
A specific focus of his is the development of procedures to provide cost effective lab evaluations for generating information for the CNCPS and CPM nutritional models.
With one of the largest and most comprehensive sets of forage NIR equations, Ralph is working to establish contract relationships with labs outside of the U.S. to provide forage and feed evaluation services. CVAS supports operations in Italy, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Canada, and South Africa.
Current projects include the refinement of invitro starch digestibility analysis, fiber rate of digestion calculations, fatty acid evaluation of forages and feeds, and the application of laboratory information for nutritional process control on dairy farms. He believes strongly that feed variation has significant economic impact and that dairy managers must characterize and control feed variability in order to maximize animal productivity. To that end he is developing web based tools for managing and researching information from feed testing data.
Ralph is a frequent speaker to industry groups on understanding and using feed analysis information and is a regular contributor of articles for popular press.