Davey Tree Flipbooks

143 142 Growth Rings leadership team challenged themselves to become the dominating force in the Canadian arboriculture industry. is seasoned management team consisted of Doyle; Blair Veitch, vice president of operations; Mike Nash, vice president of operations; Rod and Doug Soderstrom; and Rick Ramsey, who was seated in the corporate headquarters in Ohio. Together, these managers accounted for almost 200 years of green industry experience. In addition, Canadian operations had strong utility and residential field managers in place across the country. A sort of seismic shift rippled through the Canadian operations in 2012 when the decision was made to consolidate all of the Canada operations under one company, e Davey Tree Expert Company of Canada, Limited. is move united utility operations, heavily concentrated in the west, with the largely eastern-based residential operations. is major undertaking paved the way for better efficiency from an administrative standpoint and identified a clear, effective direction from an opera- tional perspective. Operations in Canada responded by increasing their revenues by $4.3 million, or 6.4 percent, in 2012. e Canada company fueled its growth and supported its strong financial performance in part by splitting large R/C territories to create several new offices in the same market. Numerous acquisitions also aided growth in the north. Canada business enjoyed the unique ability, at that time, to collaborate between busi- ness segments with personnel, equipment, and sales development both with existing clients and new prospects. e Canadian employees had already proven themselves important contributors to the Davey Company, but now they were becoming a major factor in Davey Tree's financial results. "Due in part to a strong spirit of innovation, collaboration and determination, we have aggressively managed our business to strengthen our brand image and ensure a successful future for Davey," Warnke said. "Effective leadership has been the key, and we are fortunate to have many competent and dedicated people who have stepped up to meet the challenge." A New Vision for the Future In 2013, the Davey Company gathered more than 300 managers for a National Managers' Meeting in Arizona. At the gathering, company leaders explained that Davey Tree was positioned well to continue building on the successes it had enjoyed in recent years. e company saw a 45 percent revenue increase over the previous six years. Davey's operating profit dollars and percentage had also increased during the prior six years. Company stock value never took a step back during the Great Recession and recovery years, and stock value had outperformed its peer group of companies and the S&P 500. Management also used the National Managers' Meeting to further expand on the comprehensive Davey Company Strategic Plan, "Vision 20/20," developed in 2012. e plan concentrated the company's focus and direction with the objective of driving shareholder value by achieving financial and non-financial goals alike, through focus on client loyalty and employee engagement. "We are a company that stands alone," Warnke told the approximately 340 managers in attendance. "We're the most diverse, the most recognized, the most enduring and the most capable institution in the green industry. And we're employee-owned, which further separates us from the rest of the pack." Included in the strategic plan was a revised vision and mission statement, which Warnke described as "a beacon, something at the highest level to aspire to as a company." e revised corporate vision statement was to provide "unmatched excellence in client experience, employee engagement, financial strength, and value delivered." e revised mission statement explained the company would "always deliver a superior tree, landscape and environmental service experience to every residential, utility, commercial, and government client." e new plan involved over 40 members of management, including team leaders from key management positions, who all played roles in its execution. "e strategic plan keeps management […] and the rest of the company focused on what our priorities really are," Warnke said. A rolling, three-year process, its near-term vision called for the company to achieve a number of goals looking forward, including: maintaining employee ownership as the company's business model; maintaining a conservative approach to fiscal decisions; expanding all four service lines for strategic Chapter 9 Davey relocated two tupelo trees on the Bridgestone Americas campus in Akron, Ohio, to make way for a new technical center in 2010. Davey used a gantry system capable of transporting a tree weighing more than 800,000 pounds. Davey transplanted the new National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., in 2011 after a wind storm damaged its predecessor. Davey had transplanted the previous tree there in 1978.

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