Davey Tree Flipbooks

55 54 Growth Rings unique employee benefit law Congress had passed in 1974 to encourage employee- ownership, and it gave, in this instance, an incentive to the company by allowing the deduction of both the principal and interest payment," Adante said. "It effectively transferred ownership of those shares from the family to the trust, and then from the trust to the employees who were participants in the original ESOP." Starting in 1979, a portion of those 120,000 shares was allocated each year to employees until they were all disbursed. e allocation hinged on a complex formula based on the W-2 wages of employees participating in the ESOP and the principal and interest payment made by the company on the trust loan. To benefit from the ESOP allocation, employees had to meet certain criteria, including working in qualifying job positions, being 21 years old with at least one year of full-time service, and being non-union members. Canadian employees were prohibited from taking part in the ESOP due to U.S. and Canada financial laws, although several Canadian employees were among the original 114 employee-owners in the first subscription. In 1979, fewer than 400 employees met qualifications to receive allocations from the ESOP, which disbursed 12,893 shares of the 120,000 held by the plan. e share allocations were made at no cost to qualifying employees. "It was considered part of our compensation at the time. It was truly an employee benefit plan," Adante said. Bert D. Stamp, senior vice president at the time of the acquisition, was among the original 114 employee-owners. Stamp recalled in a July 2000 interview that some employees had to be convinced to take part in the acquisition. ere had been much turnover in the ranks in the years leading to the employee-acquisition, such as in 1978 when 10 top managers of the company, including Myers' son-in-law J. Martin Erbaugh, resigned to start a new lawn care business that would later become a direct competitor of Davey. Erbaugh would later mend relationships with Davey manage- ment, and in 2001 he started working as a consultant assisting with the company's mergers and acquisitions processes. Employee departures and other business struggles in the years leading up to the buy-out had left some remaining employees non-committal. "It was a low period in the company's history," Stamp said. "ere'd been a lot of good people who had left, and then there was a feeling of uneasiness." But the acquisition, Stamp said, ultimately helped to restore confidence in the future of the company among employees. Both Stamp's recent role as vice president of field operations and his experience with the company afforded him unique insights. He'd started with Davey in 1937 as a trainee. He worked in a variety of positions in the field, including as a foreman, before being named a sales representative in 1954 in Syracuse, New York. Stamp joined the corporate office in 1963 and was eventually promoted to vice president for field operations in 1966 and later named a director of the company. In simple terms, the acquisition turned the Davey Company's close to 3,000 total employees either into owners or potential owners of the company, so they were now working for themselves instead of a hierarchy of family members. ey saw the company with fresh eyes, and they were motivated to benefit through their own hard work. One of those motivated employees was William C. Bence. Like most of the original 114 employee-owners, Bence had a long career with Davey that dated back to 1955. At the time of the acquisition, he served as account manager for Davey's Duquesne Light line clearance operations. Bence recalled in an October 2000 interview that he relished the opportunity to become an employee-owner despite the financial commitment required. "I thought it was one of the best ideas," Bence said. "I wasn't very well-off financially at that time, but I did buy about 200 shares. And I think when I retired I had pretty close to 10,000 shares. I always tried to get everybody to participate." For Bence, committing to the Davey Company was committing to a career in tree care. "It gets in your blood," as he put it. "It is like no other job that I ever had. Every day was different. ere was no boring day. You wouldn't go in there and work on an assembly line where you do the same thing day after day. Every tree was different." Bence was another of many top managers who served in WWII and was one of the top utility vice presidents later in his career. He would work to revive an embattled utility division in the 1980s and 1990s. Familiar with the challenges of dealing with collective bargaining agreements and unions, Bence, with managers including Paul Douthett and John Taylor in Pennsylvania, Rowland Bray and M.D. Burt in Ohio, and John Fulk in Michigan, expanded Davey's presence on accounts such as Ohio Edison, Ohio Bell, Duquesne Light and Power, Consumers Power, and others in the region. Chapter 3 Richard E. Abbott Lawrence S. Abernathy Richard D. Adams William C. Bence Donald E. Biehl orald L. Booth, Jr. Howard Bowles J.D. Brooks Mary E. Brown A. Wendell Burgess Myrtal D. Burt Pheney R. Byers Ramon R. Cabrera, Jr. Carl H. Campe Jose J. Castaneda William J. Clair, Jr. Eugene H. Clem Lanta R. Cobb Clayton K. Cole J. Colette Conners R. Douglas Cowan Paul E. Daniel Tommy E. Davis Daniel L. Decker Milton Dick Paul G. Douthett Howard L. Eckel, Jr. Robert L. Efird erell E. Efird Gordon R. Elliott Ralph A. Ferry Richard M. Foote Frederick C. Friess Johnny E. Fulk Roger C. Funk George M. Gaumer Henry W. Gilbertson Albert R. Gonsalves Jack C. Harbaugh Eugene W. Haupt Hersel B. Hawkins William F. Heim David L. Hintz Russell C. Hodgson Albert H. Hoeckley Francis E. Jarvis Terry R. Jay William A. Jeffers Edward J. Johnson David J. Joy John W. Joy David C. King Larry George King C. Robert Klein Lynn R. Levenson Murray M. Linton Minor D. Lucal Richard M. Lucente Ross J. McCafferty Alexander B. McKinstry Paul R. Mallory John R. Martin Robert J. Martin Benjamin T. Martinez James M. Merritt D. Eileen Miller John S. Miller Charles A. Moore Dwight F. Myers Real F. Nolet omas L. Norem James O. Norton Robert J. Oyen Catherine L. Pantalone Clifton C. Patton Robert A. Poe James H. Pohl David A. Potzler Richard A. Ramsey Evan R. Rice Everett F. Richards, Jr. John G. Richards Arnold G. Riddle James L. Robinson Douglas A. Rollins Michael C. Rosicke Blaire R. Sayers Henry D. Schmid William E. Schwartz, Sr. Jim F. Sells Arthur E. Shippey, Sr. Donald J. Shope Edward K. Shuford Raymond M. Smith Bert D. Stamp John L. Stanger Solomon Dwight Stopher Jack G. Swayze Royal A. Swem Merle J. Talbot Harry L. Taylor Vernon V. axton Jackson A. omas Charles Edward Tilston Delbert L. Tunks Clifford E. Warren D. Barry Weidner Marguerite Wertenberger James A. Westlake Kenneth Lee Wheeler James Earl Williams Robert P. Willmott Herbert J. Winters F. Lester Yost e Original 114 employee-owners e original 114 employee-owners who took part in the 1979 acquisition and first stock subscription of e Davey Tree Expert Company were: Pictured are attendees at the October 1976 Davey Tree District Managers' Meeting. Many of the original 114 employee-owners were in attendance.

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