In September 2025, we welcomed Anton Vickers to the PBS International team as our new Commercial Director.
Anton brings more than 20 years of commercial experience to this role, having worked in FMCG, agricultural and horticultural industries in past roles.
Outside of work, Anton is a keen horse rider and football fan, although he still makes time to tend to the dahlias in his garden – as one would expect from a new PBS International hire!
We sat down with Anton to get to know him properly – the man outside of work, what draws him to PBS International, and what his plans are for the company.
Name: Anton Vickers
Job title: Commercial Director
Pets: Meg the cockapoo
Favourite animal: Horses
Favourite food: Spaghetti Bolognese
Favourite film: Top Gun
Fun fact: Once played football at Hillsborough football stadium
Tell us more about your background, and what lead you up to this point in your career.
I worked at UK supermarket Tesco for over 27 years, working in stores before eventually moving into office- and more commercially-focused roles. After Tesco, I moved to a Belgium-based company called Greenyard, who supplied a range of fresh produce into retailers and food processors. they also operated a flower business which included being custodians of the National Dahlia Collection, which brought me more into the flowering plants industry, including exhibiting at Chelsea and Hampton court flower shows.
Following this I worked for a few years at a farming company called JEPCO, helping to set up a new business pillar within the group. More recently, I founded by own consultancy business to support SMEs with commercial and retail activity, before coming to PBS International.
What attracted you to PBS International?
Professionally, I’ve worked in a wide variety of roles – from planning and design to more commercial roles, working with manufacturers, suppliers, direct customers, and more. Working at PBS International feels like a great opportunity to learn something new, and also a new challenge in a specific industry I haven’t specialised in before, which really excites me.
It also really struck me during the interview process just how welcoming the team are. Many of the team have been here for years, which in my experience speaks volumes about employee satisfaction and how well people are treated within the business. As an example, I was sent a little bottle of fizz when I accepted the position, and the team also arranged for us to have cake on my first day in the office, as it was also my birthday. It really goes to show how much the people within PBS International are valued, which is really important to me.
What are you most looking forward to as Commercial Director?
My priority is to improve my network, and engage with breeders and seed producers within the pollination control world that PBS International and our customers work in. Moving forward, I would like to refer to my own experience and bring some more entrepreneurial structure and support to the team – to offer a fresh perspective and capitalise on the team’s strengths.
Already, it’s clear to me that there’s a fantastic team behind PBS International, so I’m looking forward to seeing how we can use these strengths to expand our reach with our growing customer base in Africa, Asia, and beyond.
What are your goals for PBS International in the coming years?
The PBS International team works with plant breeders, seed producers and experts around the world, and we support a great network of people globally who both use PBS International pollination bags (or selfing / crossing bags, as we know plant breeders refer to them), and help us in reaching and servicing new customers. Our duraweb® fabrics are market leading in terms of pollination control, leading to higher yields and better quality seeds, which is especially important in industries such as oil palm and sorghum.
What I’d really like to do is leverage those networks to better understand these countries that PBS International operates in and see if there are any opportunities to build new strategies in new geographies and crops – for example, our patented pollination control tents which are perfect for seed scale up and improving seed purity!
With the flexibility of our products, we can cater for most crop requirements – including covering larger fields and even elevating our tents to cover trees. Our ability for a bespoke bags service to enable breeders to match their exact requirement is a perfect example of the service level we strive to provide, and I’m excited to grow our network even further to support more plant breeders and seed producers in the coming years.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Outside of work, I’m a dad to three and have been married for 17 years. I was born and raised in Sheffield, before moving to Corby about 20 years ago to be closer to work. However, we’re still up in Sheffield fairly regularly as we keep our horses up there. I don’t ride as much anymore, but still very much enjoy being a part of the equine community.
What is your favourite travel destination?
My happy place is sat on a little beach in Aberdaron, North Wales. When then sun’s out, I personally think there’s no better place!
Are you a plant enthusiast out of work?
I used to grow dahlias in light of my work on the National Dahlia Collection. As a plant they are wonderful for late summer colour, but require maintenance, and the age-old question on whether to lift the tubers or not during the winter. I take a much lower maintenance approach to gardening these days – lawn maintenance and bedding plants mostly!
On behalf of everyone at PBS International, welcome to the team Anton – we look forward to growing together!
Connect with Anton via LinkedIn and tell us more about your plant breeding needs: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonvickers/
Find out more about what we do and meet the rest of our team on our ‘About’ page: https://www.pbsinternational.com/about-us/