Sheryl Brousseau, entered the field of Welsh Honey judges in 2018, and has judged honey shows in SC and Georgia. Not only does she enjoy judging and teaching others how to prepare show entries, she is one of the top honey show competitors with numerous wins including best in show.  Sheryl is a 2023 SC Master Beekeeper Candidate, and the club President of Ridge Beekeepers Association in Edgefield County SC, where she enjoys speaking at meetings, and mentoring new beekeepers. 

Andrew is a self professed “truck driver with a honey bee obsession”. Keeping bees since 2020, this SC Certified beekeeper’s main passion is learning about bees and beekeeping and passing that knowledge on to others. As part of the Lowcountry Beekeeper’s Association Road Show, and now President of the Dorchester Beekeepers & Gardeners he has been able to do just that.

Danny Cannon has been keeping bees since 1998 and is the owner of Bee Trail Farm, an apiary located in Lexington, SC. Raising queens and selling local honey are his specialties. He is a past President of Mid-State Beekeepers Association and a past President of the SC Beekeepers Association. Danny enjoys serving as a mentor and advocate for the beekeeping community.

Stephen Bradley (Brad) Cavin began working for Clemson University’s Department of Plant Industry (DPI) as a Plant Pest Regulatory Inspector in 2007. In 2013, Brad was appointed the Chief Apiary Inspector for South Carolina. In 2020, DPI officially began a full-time apiary inspection program. His responsibilities in this role include oversight of regulatory activities of the Clemson University Department of Plant Industry Apiary Inspection program in South Carolina. Brad conducts random inspections of beekeepers/queen breeders and investigates calls from beekeepers concerned about possible pests and pathogens. He recommends establishment of protective or restrictive quarantine as required due to disease or deleterious exotic species, and enforces the South Carolina bee laws and regulations. He educates the public by hosting discussions regarding honey bees and the laws that regulate the honey bee industry. Brad issues certificates of inspection for queen breeders and migratory beekeepers as well as certificates for exportation and importation commerce for colonies of honey bees.

Susan Crook, the Director of the Master Beekeeping Program for SCBA, is a Master Beekeeper who lives in Charleston, SC with her family. She serves on the Board of the Charleston Area Beekeepers Association and SCBA. She loves talking about bees, reading about bees, and mentoring new beekeepers.

Brutz English is a UGA Master Beekeeper and an internationally certified Senior Honey Judge. He has served as the chairperson of the Georgia Beekeepers Association Honey Show Committee since 2015. From 2017 to 2022, Brutz served as the program director for the Welsh Honey Judge training and certification program at the Young Harris-UGA Beekeeping Institute. He is a founding member and currently serves on the Board of the American Honey Show Training Council. Brutz has judged over fifty state, national, and international honey shows, including the Institute of Northern Ireland Beekeepers (2018), the Eastern Apicultural Society (2019), Heartland Apicultural Society (2022), the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society in Wales (2022), and Hive Life Conference Honey Show (2023), and the Great Yorkshire Honey Show in England (2023).

Phillip is a SC Certified beekeeper and a member of Lowcountry Beekeepers Association, York County Beekeepers Association and Secretary of Dorchester Beekeepers and Gardeners. He has 20 colonies in Blacksburg, Orangeburg and Ridgeville.  An avid gardener who has been keeping bees since 2018, he enjoys building his own equipment and catching swarms to add to his expanding apiary.

Steve is a third-generation beekeeper and manages around 20 colonies at his home in Simpsonville, SC. He is South Carolina’s first Master beekeeper, a Senior Welsh Honey Judge, and the headmaster of the SC Welsh Honey Judging Academy.

Steve coordinates and has judged the SCBA honey shows for many years. He is the senior judge for the SC State Fair honey shows. Steve has been teaching beginning beekeeping courses for over 25 years and gives beekeeping and honey show preparation programs to groups in several states. He is also an award-winning mead maker and received the best in show award for his mead at the 2013 EAS conference.

Ralph Harlan tries not to let Life interfere with keeping of the bees in his daily life.  It did not take him long to figure out that realistically he could not devote the time to “full time” beekeeping and 80+ hives was more than Life would allow.  Now he produces nucs because he enjoys it – and even sells a few.  He occasionally will harvest honey but finds that bottling & [especially] labelling the bottles is tedious.  He can be very vocal about selling honey without considering what it costs to produce and bottle.

Ralph has done “cutouts” and welcomes swarms to supplement the gene pool of his bee yards.  He enjoys mentoring others, and will help beekeepers as they learn new tasks and approaches to keeping honey bees.   He has facilitated the “bee school” of his local club and still makes presentations for “bee school” and to the general public.

David Elgie MacFawn: David has kept bees in Maryland (Dark German bees), Virginia (Italian), North Carolina (Italian), Colorado (Russian), and South Carolina (Italian and Russian Hybrid).  He is a North Carolina Master Craftsman Beekeeper (October 16, 1997), Co-Founded the South Carolina Master Beekeeping Program, awarded 1996 & 2020 South Carolina Beekeeper of the Year, assisted Dr. Fell at Virginia Tech in the Virginia Master Beekeeping Program, Incorporated the South Carolina Beekeepers Association as a 501 C 3 Non-Profit Corporation, and published several (over 60) articles in the American Bee Journal, Bee Culture, and Beekeeping: The First Three Years. He currently is doing YouTube videos. David is a 2021 CIPA EVVY™ Awards Book Second Place Competition Winner. David has published four books,
Applied Beekeeping in the United States by David MacFawn, published by Outskirts Press,
https://outskirtspress.com/BeekeepingTipsandTechniquesfortheSoutheastUnitedStatesBeekeepingFinance,
https://outskirtspress.com/gettingthebestfromyourbees. (discontinued)
Splitting Colonies for the Small-Scale Beekeeper
Northern Bee Books (September 23, 2022), https://www.northernbeebooks.co.uk/
From September, 2021 through October, 2024 Originated and Managed South Carolina Department of Agriculture Grant #: 21SCBGPSC1010  Project Title: South Carolina Honey Pollen Analysis. Established 19 honey collection sites throughout South Carolina, identified pollen from contributing nectar plants, and published a results book.

During the Eastern Apicultural Society meeting in Greenville, SC, July 15-19, 2019 (where he served as Co-Program Chair) he received his Eastern Apiculture Society Master Beekeeper certification.

From July, 2020 to January, 2021 he was a consultant to Bee-Downtown where he identified honeybee to Six Leadership Domains correlations and colony management enhancements.

He also developed, marketed, and supported spreadsheets analyzing financial aspects of the honey and pollination businesses, and beeswax candle production and sales.  David has a BS in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s in Business Administration with concentrations in Finance and Operations Research.  David was in the computer business for over 30 years and was a Customer Service Program Manager responsible for worldwide support planning, training/education, logistics, call-center support, and professional services at Sun Microsystems and a subset of this at NCR. David was also a Federal Systems Product Manager responsible for new DOD system definition and development at Data General.  David resides in the Columbia, South Carolina, USA area and is an active sideline beekeeper.

Tony Olekas is the President of Anderson County Beekeepers Association (ACBA) and regrets that he waited to retire, then discovered his love for bees. He and his wife Dee maintain about 30 hives and can’t resist a swarm or split opportunity to share with club members.

He is excited to train, mentor and support bee activities in his community. A speaker at Anderson Library, Anderson Museum and Anderson University (AU), he finds it a rewarding way to educate people in the surrounding areas about honey bees.

His pet project is being involved in the Rocky River Nature Park for AU. The ACBA currently supports sustaining the Apiary and developing wildflowers areas in the park.

Ben Powell is the Apiculture and Pollinator Program Coordinator at Clemson University. For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by the natural world and the interactions of its inhabitants, especially the smaller majority (insects and other invertebrates).
I believe that conservation and wise use of natural resources is essential to preserving ecosystem services, especially in developing communities, and the public has a vested interest in protecting pollinators and other invertebrates for the critical roles they play in maintaining agriculture and ecosystems.
As the Apiculture and Pollinator Program coordinator, my primary goal is to provide educational resources for South Carolina’s beekeepers and expand appreciation for all insects and invertebrates, especially those that pollinate South Carolina’s farms and forests.
I focus my education and outreach programs on two areas: 1) advancing apiculture and beekeeping and 2) improving public awareness about the importance of pollinators and invertebrate biodiversity. Clemson Apiculture and Pollinator Program extension activities include the Clemson Apiculture and Pollinator Program website and Facebook page, the bimonthly newsletter (CAPPingg), advanced trainings for beekeepers, pesticide applicators, and the general public, pollinator habitat demonstration plots, and teaching apiaries.

Ben Powell is the Apiculture and Pollinator Program Coordinator at Clemson University. For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by the natural world and the interactions of its inhabitants, especially the smaller majority (insects and other invertebrates).
I believe that conservation and wise use of natural resources is essential to preserving ecosystem services, especially in developing communities, and the public has a vested interest in protecting pollinators and other invertebrates for the critical roles they play in maintaining agriculture and ecosystems.
As the Apiculture and Pollinator Program coordinator, my primary goal is to provide educational resources for South Carolina’s beekeepers and expand appreciation for all insects and invertebrates, especially those that pollinate South Carolina’s farms and forests.
I focus my education and outreach programs on two areas: 1) advancing apiculture and beekeeping and 2) improving public awareness about the importance of pollinators and invertebrate biodiversity. Clemson Apiculture and Pollinator Program extension activities include the Clemson Apiculture and Pollinator Program website and Facebook page, the bimonthly newsletter (CAPPingg), advanced trainings for beekeepers, pesticide applicators, and the general public, pollinator habitat demonstration plots, and teaching apiaries.

Cynthia Robinson is a Journeyman Beekeeper under the South Carolina Beekeepers Association. She has been beekeeping for 17 years.  Cynthia finds beekeeping fascinating, and is more than just a hobby, but as a sideline business too. She is known in her community as a Beekeeper On Duty, that sells honey by the roadside.  Cynthia has been selling honey for 7 years to friends and neighbors.

Cynthia’s passion is to make honey straws with local honey. She invented a way to do it by hand and has sold several kits to help other beekeepers. Her process & success has taken her to another level. She now has an automated honey filling machine.   This is a  technical process and takes a bit to catch on. Cynthia’s goal is to increase sales by offering a service to beekeepers. They can send their honey and her company can process it in to the straws.  So far it has been successful!

Cynthia is also the president of the Lake Wylie Bee Club. She loves teaching new beginner beekeepers and to keep sharing the knowledge and skill of Beekeeping.

Jim is originally from the Midwest and is retired from both the US Navy and the SC State Ports Authority.

He is a member of SC Beekeepers Assn. since 2012. Journeyman Beekeeper in the SC Master Beekeeper program since 2014; member of the Charleston Area Beekeepers Association, Education Coordinator for Lowcountry Beekeepers Association, BerkeleyBees Club Educator; and the President of the Charleston Community Bee Gardens.

Beekeeping for over ten years. He maintains 16 hives for pollination at the Clemson University Coastal Research and Education Center in Charleston. Several local beekeepers maintain their hives at the Clemson site to learn beekeeping management practices.   Jim teaches several Beginner Beekeeping classes each year. Each class awards scholarships for local youths recommended by educators.

For my day job, I am a mechanical engineer for TyTek Group. On the side, I operate Dark Corner Apiary and have been keeping bees for around 20 years.  My primary focus is queen rearing with an interest in selection for mite resistance and breeding. As part of my apiary business, I manufacture and sell an instrumental insemination device and a few other unique bee keeping accessories.  I organize the Certified Bee Class for the  Spartanburg Beekeepers Association.