About Us
About Us
After helping numerous organizations with strategic planning and growth efforts through the years, Edge Floral Advisors was started by Ben Heroman to focus his efforts in helping others in the industry that has given so much to he and his family.
Literally born and raised into the floral industry, Ben’s family, the Heroman’s of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, have been in the horticulture industry since the late 1800’s. When things got crowded in the third generation and three brothers decided to split the original business into multiple businesses in the 1950’s, William J “Billy” Heroman, Sr. (Ben’s Grandfather) started Billy Heroman’s Flowerland in 1955. Now in its 69th year of business, Billy Heroman’s has grown tremendously, achieving significant success, becoming the dominant retail florist in the state of Louisiana and one of the largest horticulture firms in the entire southern United States.
Ben grew up in the business, missing school to help oversee delivery routing at Valentine’s and Mother’s Day beginning in the 7th grade, spending summers learning various parts of business, and completing needed projects around the greenhouse and warehouse through the years. Ben ultimately joined the business full time in 2003 at the age of 25.
Prior to joining Billy Heroman’s, Ben graduated from Louisiana State University (LSU) with a B.S. in Finance in 2000, graduating with Honors and twice being named the Outstanding Student in the College of Business. After graduation, he spent two years in Commercial Banking for Capital One Bank where he received several promotions in a short time, including becoming the first person in Company history to fill the role of Credit Analysis Specialist. Seeking a change from banking and deeper preparation before joining the family business, he obtained a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the prestigious and highly ranked Goizueta School of Business at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Since joining Billy Heroman’s, the company has been on a significant growth curve, doubling in size every 10 years, with Ben’s leadership and contributions playing a significant role. The company's revenue, employee base, and number of markets served are all now more than 4 times the size that they were when he joined the company in 2003.
At the same time over the course of the last 20 years, Ben has been an instrumental part of coaching, planning, and leading growth, strategy and long-range planning efforts for numerous organizations. A big-picture thinker with a knack for pulling together strategic plans, Ben excels in using his gifting in leadership, discernment and administration to help organizations visualize their roadmap to success.
Entering the “third quarter” of his career, Ben is embarking on next challenges. At Billy Heroman’s, Ben has led the ownership to embark on a bold 10 year vision to double in size again, expand into new markets and take the business to the next level. At the same time, as he evaluated his giftings and career experience it became obvious that he wanted to launch Edge Floral Advisors to take on the challenge of helping others in the industry he loves “sharpen their edge for success.”
Ben married the love of his life and high school sweetheart, Adria Ledoux, in May 2000, one week after they both graduated from LSU. Other than a few years in Atlanta, the two have called Baton Rouge, LA home for all of their lives. Always known as overachievers, the couple continued the mantra when starting their family. Today they have five children, Towns (20), Clint (17), Mary Cate (15), William (13), and Millie (9) and love every day of their busy, big family life.
According to Ben, “the next 10 years are going to be a lot of fun as we launch our children into adulthood and help Billy Heroman’s and lots of other companies in our industry reach their goals and dreams!”