Davey Tree Flipbooks

4 THE DAVEY BULLETIN | January/February 2024 opportunity at a smaller, employee- owned company like Davey to really make a difference, gain equity and financial security as an employee owner, and to build a career. It quickly became obvious to me there was so much potential at Davey to pursue the ideals I believed in. My dad grew up on a farm and instilled in me an appreciation for respecting the environment and hard work. I grew up working jobs in construction and other blue-collar industries, so I valued the work we did for our clients. I also played a lot of team sports growing up and loved the team mentality that is engrained in Davey culture through employee ownership. We're in this together. We own the company together. We win or lose together. And the people! The people I have met and interacted with throughout my career have been exceptional. It's infectious once you start being around Davey people and our team culture. I believe strongly that you must show a willingness to commit to each other, and to the team, to maximize your success here at Davey. Those were some of the things that I saw here that I didn't see at the big companies my friends were working for, where they often rewarded personal ambition over teamwork and the success of the team, and where it was difficult to build a sense of belonging, commitment, and financial security. I learned when I was young the importance of financial responsibility and retirement planning, and that contributing a portion of your paycheck to something like a 401K or the ESPP was something you just did to secure your future, and that the sooner you contributed, the better. It might not seem like much from paycheck to paycheck, but over the course of 20 or 30 years it's amazing what you can accumulate, and the difference it can make to your family's financial security through the ESPP and 401KSOP. A. The Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP) was my first entry point into employee ownership, one year after I started in 1991. I was 28 years old and not making a lot of money but understood the time value of money and knew that I wanted to start investing in Davey as soon as I could. When the 401KSOP match was introduced in 1997, I added this and the ESPP to my investments, as it offered a way to get free money in the form of the match in the 401KSOP or, a relatively safe 15% return on my money in the form of the discounted price on the ESPP shares I purchased. I had worked a lot since I was 12 on paper routes, mowing lawns and construction, so I had taken care of my own money for a long time and understood the importance of saving. Plus, I had the good fortune to have a dad who taught me the value of investing in the stock market at a young age, so I had a little more of a financial inclination and comfort level than a lot of people in their twenties. When I started at Davey, my intent was to be here five years and then move back to Wisconsin. Honestly, the people, culture, opportunities, and some of the mottos John Davey lived by like "Do it right or not at all," and the environmental stewardship aspects of the company all enticed me to stay. I also discovered that I had the ability, as a relatively young person, to have a positive impact on the company. I had the good fortune of being exposed to upper management early in my career, and I really enjoyed it and learned from it. I had friends working at Fortune 500 companies like Ford and Goodyear, and I sometimes felt envious they were in a huge organization. It seemed exciting as they bounced around in various roles. But I saw the unfulfilling cultures they worked in at those big companies, and how little impact they had on the day-to-day success or failure of those companies. I felt I had a unique Q. WHAT'S YOUR EMPLOYEE-OWNERSHIP STORY? ASK THE CEO Pat Covey Davey Chairman, President and CEO

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