149 148 Growth Rings
Changing of the Guard
While 2013 saw extensive activity in the area of management succession and advance-
ment opportunities, 2014 proved no different. e company would celebrate 35
years of employee ownership as it continued to accelerate the development of capable
and committed leadership during these two critical years.
But before celebrations could commence, in February 2014, Davey employees bid
farewell to one of the original employee-owners when Jack Joy died at the age of 90.
Joy had started with Davey in 1946 and enjoyed a 44-year career. Often his personal
and professional lives intermingled. In 2004, the former B-17 pilot enjoyed a seat at
the dedication ceremony for the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C., courtesy of
Davey's contracts maintaining parks and government grounds in the capital. In 1990,
when he retired from active service with the Davey Company, he moved to a quiet
Christmas tree farm in Cambridge, Ohio, where 10,000 Christmas trees had been
planted in 1983, later supplemented by apple, chestnut, peach, cherry, pear and plum
trees. is represented a return home of sorts, reminiscent of his impoverished early
childhood years living with his grandparents on a farm in Sugarcreek, Ohio, where
as a young boy he grew to appreciate the white damsel plum and mulberry trees –
particularly their abundance of sweet-tasting fruit in the summertime. In a way, trees
served to bookend Joy's life.
Unlike the leadership changes prior to Joy's move to the president's office, every
transition at the helm since the employee acquisition in 1979 – and Joy's initial
elevation to Davey's top post – occurred smoothly and with great confidence in each
successor. Another of Joy's accomplishments was setting the tone for transitions at the
company's executive levels for future generations of employee-owners.
Management remained committed to addressing succession needs throughout the
company, including Davey's major subsidiaries, the Davey Tree Surgery Company
and e Davey Tree Expert Company of Canada, Limited, along with the ever-
expanding, newly acquired divisions such as Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc., in
Virginia, among others.
e year 2014 also brought about a renewal of commitment to the 35-year
ownership model and recognition of its positive impact on thousands of dedicated
Davey employees. As then-Chairman, President and CEO Karl Warnke stated, "We
believe employee ownership encourages us to be more innovative, collaborative and
client- focused. We are owners and care deeply about the health and future of our
company and are invested in its success."
Warnke also credited the company's board of directors with being integral to Davey
Tree's success over the past 35 years, hailing them as a diverse group of talented and
thoughtful individuals who placed the interests of employee shareholders at the fore-
front of every recommendation or decision. "It's not the quantity or the name and
title recognition of our directors that have solidified our board over the years," he said.
End of an Era
(2014–2017)
10
Chapter 10
A Davey Commercial Landscape Services crew
cares for the grounds at Brandywine Crossing
Shopping Mall in Maryland in 2014.
