Laboratory Contacts

Duane Otto - President
Duane is the President of Turf & Soil Diagnostics. Mr. Otto has considerable experience with soil systems and physical evaluation of soils. He provides our customers with assistance & guidance regarding their landscape, golf and sports turf projects. He also functions as Technical Manager of our laboratories. His expertise includes lab and field testing, new construction specifications, and soil diagnostics.

Mr. Otto joined Turf & Soil Diagnostics' predecessor company (Turf Diagnostics & Design) as a consulting agronomist and soil scientist in 1996. He has performed GMax (field hardness) testing on sports fields throughout the country, and he is a leading expert in the evaluation of both natural and synthetic turf fields.

Duane received a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Agribusiness from Mid America Nazarene College while working as a laboratory technician for Turf Diagnostics & Design. He also performed graduate studies in Soil and Water Science at the University of Arizona. His thesis work involved the statistical evaluation of mathematical evapo-transpiration models.

Chip Halderman - Consultant
Chip is responsible for performing soil testing, data review, and reporting. He provides client consulting related to soils, growing media, turf, materials testing, and soil drainage issues

Mr. Halderman joined Turf & Soil Diagnostics in 2023. Before joining Turf & Soil Diagnostics, Halderman served as Superintendent at The Orchards Golf Course in Lawrence, KS. At the Orchards, he managed golf course operations and staff, including keeping top quality course conditions, and planning and scheduling maintenance activities according to assessment and agronomic needs.

Prior to working at The Orchards, Halderman held various laboratory positions with responsibilities including sample testing and personnel management. Chip is a Class A Superintendent, with degrees in Sports Turf Management from the University of Georgia and Biological Sciences from Kansas University.

Kyle Lanham - Field Technician
Kyle is responsible for performing on-site and laboratory testing and reporting, and providing customer service and consultation. He schedules and performs Gmax and Permeability testing at sports fields throghout the country.

Mr. Lanham joined Turf & Soil Diagnostics in 2018. Since then he has performed testing on hundreds of fields. Kyle holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Washburn University and has a Sports Turf Management certificate from the University of Georgia.

Roxanne King - Quality Manager
Roxanne leads TSD efforts towards impltementation and execution of our Quality Assurance System, and ensures compliance with international quality standards as outlined in ISO 17025. She evaluates data and makes decisions concerning data integrity using internal quality assurance database She trains and supervises lab technicians.

Roxanne started working for our company in 2004. She has extensive training in ISO 17025, with courses completed including Auditing your Laboratory to ISO 17025: 2017 Improving the Corrective Action Process and ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for Technicians.

Sam Ferro
Sam's duties include data review, evaluation, and reporting. He relies on our test data and his many years of soil testing experience, to provide assistance and guidance to both TSD staff and clients.

Mr. Ferro has a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Missouri and a Masters of Business Administration from the Keller Graduate School of Management. He started working for our company in 1998, and he has worked in laboratories at scientist and management levels since 1983. Sam has made numerous contributions to industry publications, and has been a frequent speaker at landscape and turf functions.