Davey Tree Flipbooks

63 62 Growth Rings business, but considerable sales were realized in right-of-way clearing for new line construction, mechanical and chemical brush control, underground telephone line installation, pole treatment, grounds restoration, injection and foliage applications of growth retardants, and substation maintenance. Utility services in the East alone employed nearly 1,200 of the company's approximately 3,000 employees in 1982, not including utility employees in Canada and the Davey Tree Surgery Company. "In dealing with a utility client, it is imperative to maintain one's credibility and professional image," Heim wrote in a 1982 Bulletin column. "We are working for a client who spends large sums of money to develop its own forestry departments which are staffed with highly qualified people. e client is progressive, as concerns tree and vegetation maintenance; budget conscious; and demands the most value for each dollar spent. If we do not match or exceed their standards, the livelihood of as many as 200-plus people, and possibly millions of dollars in sales, will be jeopardized on just one account. In today's marketplace, these revenues are not easily regained." Key personnel in Utility services were Ted E. Efird, vice president, Southeast area manager; Merle Talbot, Southwest area manager; and Don Biehl, North Central area manager. Efird had started with Davey in 1944, and his career briefly paused while he served in the Marine Corps from 1952 to 1954. Having focused on utility services in the southeast, Efird ultimately rose to the position of vice president, the title he held until his retirement in 1992. Efird had become known for his fierce support of employee ownership. He was well-connected in the business community and leveraged his relationships to further advance the Davey brand in his region. While considered an intimidating figure by many, Efird was also known to personally pay for the purchase of Davey shares for employees he wanted to elevate, and he even provided financial support to Davey employees in times of need. On the residential side, Davey benefitted greatly from the experience of Don Shope. Shope, a longtime residential services employee, had joined Davey Tree in 1955 working as a trimmer in the Louisville, Kentucky, office. Two years later, he graduated with the 1957 D.I.T.S. class. Shope became a foreman in the Pittsburgh area, and in 1964 he was promoted to district manager of the Baltimore office. In 1976 he was promoted to division manager. A year later he was promoted to sales manager of tree care services, and by 1979 he earned a promotion to vice president of tree care services. Shope oversaw the merger of tree and lawn care services, an immense yet gradual process that involved combining office facilities throughout the country, opening new offices, developing a sales and marketing strategy, and creat- ing a new computer system to keep track of clients and billing. e change had been initiated in 1979 and completed in 1983. Later, in 1992, he would oversee the consolidation of all U.S. R/C services into one national organization. Eventually, he would become vice president and general manager of R/C services, presiding over all residential tree care operations, before retiring in 1995 with 40 years of experience. Additional important personnel in residential services included A. B. "Mac" McKinstry, area manager, North Central tree care operations; Ray Smith, area manager, Northeast tree care operations; James A. Westlake, area manager, central region; and George Gaumer, sales coordinator, who worked with corporate market- ing director Hank Schmid on residential sales and advertising campaigns. Invigorated by a sense of control, the new management team could put the past 16 turbulent years of rocky leadership behind them. e large year-over-year revenue gains experienced from 1978 through 1979 continued in 1980, which closed out the year with another record-setting total revenue figure of $67.2 million – a 10.3 percent increase over 1979. One of the reasons behind the company's newfound success was the fact that in general employee-owners work more diligently and efficiently for themselves than they would for anybody else. ey maintain the trucks and saws more carefully, because now the equipment is theirs, and therefore want to get the most productivity out of it. Most employees were energized by the employee acquisition. "We had a pretty high morale anyway, but this certainly added to it," Bob Oyen said in an October 2000 interview. "Our office employees, I believe, were very loyal to Davey Tree. And this just made them more so." Brub Davey, then chairman of the board of directors, and Jack Joy, sent a letter to shareholders in 1980 lauding the benefits of employee ownership. "We believe that the company's progress and performance in 1980 are tangible evidence that employ- ee ownership is a positive factor in our success," the letter states. "e ESOP gives participating employees an opportunity to share in the growth and prosperity of the company and will become increasingly meaningful as more employees participate and annual allocations add shares to their respective accounts." e 1980 sale of Pine Knoll, a large swath of land close to New York City, helped strengthen the company's financial position by reducing the long-term debt from the employee acquisition. at freed up capital could then be spent on equipment to meet rising sales. e company spent $5.6 million on new equipment that year to meet growth requirements and to replace units that could not be rebuilt. Davey's healthy financial state was also reflected in 1980 by increased shareholders' equity and an improved equity-to-debt ratio. Management continued to set a high bar for the company. At an area managers meeting in 1980, Eckel spoke to managers in both residential tree care services and utility services. "We have completed our first year as an employee-owned company," Eckel said. "We have a bright future ahead, but that future is dependent on our ability to manage and work together." Davey Tree's success in the early 1980s can also be attributed to the kind of high-quality work Davey had become known for that attracted and retained loyal clients. In 1980 Davey's work maintaining vegetation in utility rights-of-way for the Consumers Power Company in Jackson, Michigan, represented one of the company's Chapter 4 Davey crews work on the Puget Sound Power & Light account in Port Orchard, Washington, in 1985. In 1981 Davey acquired the utility service contracts of the Wilson Construction Company in Oregon, thereby more firmly cementing the company's presence in the pacific northwest utility market.

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