Davey Tree Flipbooks

111 110 Growth Rings incarnations of the asset management team within DRG, and it did not take long for many more projects and additional services to be defined. Eventually, the resource group would also play a role in the Davey Company's response to increasing public awareness of the need to care for our natural environ- ment, as DRG expanded to offer natural resource consulting services. While many Davey operations struggled to find high-quality personnel due to low unemployment rates across the U.S., the resource group attracted highly qualified individuals looking for a career in environmental sciences. Realizing Success in Both Residential and Commercial Services Organizational changes, promotions, the addition of new services, and capability improvements in all service lines – and the corporate administration – during the mid-1990s set a new level of expectation for the company's financial and operational performance. In 1995, the Davey Company made another organizational change to orient the company around its various clients by launching the new Commercial Services group, which was created to focus on large commercial customers and national accounts. "Residential customers are totally different from commercial customers," Cowan explained in a letter to employees. "ey have different service needs, buying habits, price demands and technical requirements. is new structure will allow us to focus on each market." Commercial Services operated as a division within the R/C services at the time, and Rick Ramsey was promoted to vice president and general manager of U.S. commercial services, moving out of the surgery company to oversee the new entity. By 1997, just two years later, the new commercial group proved profitable. at same year, Ken Celmer was promoted to vice president and general manager of U.S. residential services upon the retirement of Donald Shope, who had joined Davey in 1955 as a trimmer and worked his way up through the ranks of the resi- dential operations to eventually lead the service line. Celmer had worked closely with Shope and had enjoyed a similarly long and fruitful career in residential services. e company's presence in the Denver residential tree care market took root in 1995 with the acquisition of the B.D. Wilhelm Company. Wilhelm Tree & Lawn Care had offered tree and shrub care services in the area since 1936 and full-service landscape care since the 1960s. e acquisition was one of the Davey Company's largest since the 1969 purchase of the Davey Tree Surgery Company. Prior to acquir- ing Wilhelm, Davey had only provided utility tree care services in Colorado. e former Wilhelm territory created what was then the company's largest residential territory with a client base of nearly 10,000 and a healthy bottom line. But the acquisition of the Wilhelm business had not been an easy sell to Davey's board of directors. e board's initial vote regarding the acquisition failed by a consid- erable margin. Jack Joy, as chairman, was somewhat stunned. "Well, management will take that under advisement," Joy told the board. Ultimately, management prevailed, and despite objections by some board members, the acquisition was completed. Richard Foote, then regional manager, R/C services, in the Southern region, volun- teered for a transfer to go out to Colorado and oversee the integration of Wilhelm. He was assisted by Jed Day, who also traveled to Colorado to serve as the new Davey office's assistant district manager. "We were keenly aware of the need to win over the hearts and minds of the former Wilhelm employees," Foote recalled in a 2019 interview. "And we did. We held a lot of meetings. Corporate leadership flew out and explained all the benefits avail- able and employee-ownership. at helped to ensure the employees bought into the Davey vision." e Denver residential market grew even further when, in 1998, Davey acquired Schovel Tree Company in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to operate as a satellite of the Denver office. It expanded again a few years later, in 2002, with the acquisition of Denver Tree Specialists and in 2005 with the acquisition of Angle Tree and Lawn Co. e success realized in the Colorado-area R/C operations during this period was much attributed to Foote's leadership and other dedicated and talented employees from all companies involved. By the mid-2000s the initial office had been split to create several new Davey residential offices in Denver totaling close to $6 million in annual revenue for the market. Foote credited employees such as Brian O'Niel, Dave Paricio, John Bretsch, Mike Protextor, Brent LeMaire, and Chris Abbe with contributing to the success of the market. Success in residential and commercial services in the mid-1990s coincided with the upswing in the U.S. economy, and sales improved across all of Davey's service lines as the decade neared a close. e company had started the decade with total annual revenues of $184 million in 1990. By 1999 the company would surpass $300 million in total annual revenue. Davey's board of directors elected Doug Cowan chairman of the board in 1997 following Jack Joy's retirement from that position. Cowan took on the chairman role while retaining his title and duties as president and CEO. "As CEO, Doug has successfully led the company to its present position of prominence in the green indus- try," Joy said in a 1997 Davey Bulletin article. "e company has reached a size and complexity that requires a full-time chairman." For the past 10 years, Joy and Cowan had worked closely together as the Davey Company's top leaders. "Except for healthy differences of opinion on occasional strategies, Jack and I have been of one mind as to Davey's direction since the 1979 employee acquisition," Cowan said. Now Joy would step back and serve as a director Chapter 6 In 1997 the Davey board of directors elected Doug Cowan, right, chairman following Jack Joy's retirement from that position. Karl Warnke, left, was elected president and chief operating officer of Davey Tree in 1999 by the board. Davey's board of directors in 2000 included: Doug Cowan, chairman and CEO; Karl Warnke, president and COO; R. Cary Blair, chairman and CEO, Westfield Companies; Russell R. Gifford, retired president and CEO, CNG Energy Services; Bill Ginn; Richard S. Gray, retired president, Enterprise Development, Inc.; Douglas K. Hall, CEO, Earth Satellite Corporation; Wilard R. Holland, retired chairman and CEO of FirstEnergy Corporation; and James H. Miller, retired vice president, GenCorp. A Davey utility crew at work in 1997. Jeff Scheller, foreman in the South Pittsburgh residential office, prunes a tree for a client in 1997. Davey's Commercial Services, established in 1995, aimed to offer specialized commercial grounds maintenance for clients with large property portfolios – like national hotel chains such as Red Roof Inn.

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