Davey Tree Flipbooks

81 80 Growth Rings As the company expanded into new territories and markets, acquired other firms, and sales grew, the new organization made it easier to manage growth through service lines and regions. In addition to the operating companies, management formed a corporate group with the responsibility of functions and requirements viewed as a necessary and integral part of any large corporation. e Davey Company was in essence growing up, and growing up fast, so leadership wanted to ensure the opera- tional structure matured into one befitting a $100 million business. A series of appointments were made to lead the restructured organizations. Howard Eckel was named executive vice president and general manager of the Kent company. Eckel's responsibilities included the new Davey Company operating group and all the support functions to operations, such as marketing, equipment management, shops, personnel, safety and operational accounting. Gene Haupt was named executive vice president and general manager of Davey Tree Surgery in the West. He would oversee operations in seven states accounting for 35 percent of the total corporate volume. However, all in all, the organizational change had little effect on the surgery company, which was already organized as a separate operating group. Doug Cowan was appointed executive vice president of finance and administration and given full responsibility of the corporate group. e newly defined corporate functions included financial, treasury, secretary, administrative and technical services, banking, accounting, shareholder relations, asset management, employee benefit programs and more. Jim Pohl was named vice chairman of the board of directors and corporate secretary. is moved considerable management duties from Pohl to other members of company leadership as he assumed less of a daily operational role. He would retire one year later in 1985. Joy continued as chairman, president, and CEO. "In planning for the future, we are aware that as the company grows in size and complexity, it is necessary to effect changes in the organizational structure so that the increasing volume of business can be managed effectively," Joy wrote to employees in a letter addressing the organizational changes. "It is equally important that we address the question of management succession, not only at the corporate management level but also at every level within our operations and administration." us, the most important tasks for the future were set. A Place To Call Home Now, with a new direction charted, company management wanted a fitting head- quarters to match both the redesigned operational aspects and the growth and success of the business. In the past few decades, the Davey Company spent millions building new facilities or renovating existing shops and offices across both the U.S. and Canada. After all, these were the primary revenue generators. In the meantime, the corporate offices had remained largely unchanged dating back to the early 1900s – a hodgepodge of offices scattered throughout downtown Kent in different buildings and on different floors. e home address for the downtown offices was 117 S. Water St. on the second floor of a bank building. ere, many employees started their day by climbing a steep, narrow wooden staircase. Upstairs, as you walked from one department to another, a series of one or two steps linked the various spaces together. When the company expanded, the former cash cage of the bank space downstairs – a meager room devoid of windows – also became office space. A leaky roof forced employees to cover the office computer system with plastic at the end of each day in case it rained overnight. e physical space itself lacked any semblance of class or elegance, except possibly on "mahogany row," so named because its wood-paneled offices and hallways were home to the company executives. Several Davey retirees who worked downtown politely described the old offices as a rabbit warren – a series of dark anterooms linked by narrow, uneven passages. Karl Warnke's earliest days in the original corporate offices started in 1981 in a makeshift cubical space with just enough room for a chair, a desk, and a waste basket. "Cigar smoke from Mr. Davey's office would roll out the door and into my space like a fog bank moving across the water," Warnke recalled in a 2017 interview. "We would frequently chat, with most conversations leading back to his farm in Ninety-Six, South Carolina, and his beloved Santa Gertrudis cattle." Warnke's supervisor, Bill Heim, had an office on "mahogany row," where tobacco smoke emanating from the offices cast a bluish haze over the place, as many U.S. states did not start to ban indoor smoking until the late 1990s and early 2000s. "e stale smell of cigarette, pipe and cigar smoke never left my clothing, but quite honestly I didn't give it a second thought at the time," Heim said. e company leadership finally announced plans for a new headquarters to be built in Kent to house the new corporate group and replace the dilapidated down- town offices with a more cohesive and modern facility. Like the new organizational Chapter 5 Bill Heim started with Davey in 1950 dragging brush. He retired in 1989 as vice president and general manager of Utility services. Donald J. Shope started with Davey in 1955 as a trimmer. He retired in 1995 as vice president and general manager of R/C services. Davey executives broke ground in July 1984 on the new corporate complex, which relocated more than 100 Davey employees from separate locations in downtown Kent to one, central office. Pictured from left are: Edward Johnson, vice president for field services; David Adante, assistant treasurer; Jack Joy, chairman, president and CEO; James Pohl, executive vice president; and Robert Browne, director of purchasing and properties. Employees moved into the corporate headquarters in June 1985.

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