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12 THE DAVEY BULLETIN | May/June 2018 MY DAVEY FORBES 'BEST EMPLOYER' RANKING, RECORD-SETTING REVENUE TRENDS HIGHLIGHTS OF SHAREHOLDERS' MEETING Davey employees, retirees and executive leadership celebrated historic revenue increases and national recognition for the Davey Company at the annual Shareholders' Meeting, held in May at the Davey Institute. Davey Chairman Karl Warnke congratulated employees on earning a spot in the Forbes Top 500 List of Best Employers in America for 2018. Davey was ranked 294 on Forbes Best Employers list for large companies. "You made that happen," Warnke said, addressing the employees in the room. "Congratulations to you and your fellow employee owners across North America." Forbes partnered with a market research firm to compile the list by asking 30,000 people how likely they would be to recommend their employer to others. Davey ranked seventh out of 21 Ohio firms on the Forbes list. Prominent Ohio companies on the ranking included The J.M. Smucker Company (300), Nationwide Mutual Insurance (335), Progressive (347) and FirstEnergy (421). Davey President and CEO Pat Covey and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Joe Paul both shared figures highlighting rising revenue in 2017 and the first quarter of 2018. In 2017, the company recorded $915.9 million in total annual revenue. That represented an increase of 8.3 percent over the total annual revenue of $845.6 million recorded in 2016. Paul said the revenue increase of more than $70.2 million has historic symbolism. "To put it in perspective, when the employees purchased the company from the Davey family in 1979 the company had $60 million in total revenues," Paul said. "So, the amount of revenue we added for the company in 2017 was larger than the total revenues for the company in 1979. I think that is pretty amazing." To start 2018, the company is continuing the trend of increasing year-over-year first quarter revenue. Covey said the company's first-quarter revenue has grown every year since 2014. This year showed 8.2 percent growth over the first quarter of 2017. "Our sales by division are all up," Covey said. "We're up $16 million through the first quarter year-over-year, almost Davey Board Member Retires Davey Chairman Karl Warnke announced the retirement of Dawson Cunningham, who retired in May after serving on the board of directors for 13 years. Cunningham served on the board's compensation and audit committees during his tenure. For the last 12 years, he served as chairman of the compensation committee. He is the retired chief financial officer of Roadway Corporation. Cunningham joined Roadway in 1985. Between 1992 and 1996, he served as vice president, finance and administration at Roadway. In 1996 he was promoted to vice president, finance and administration, and treasurer. He was elected executive vice president, CFO and treasurer in 1998. Warnke said Davey has positively evolved its incentives and compensation for employees thanks in large part to Cunningham's leadership. "He's been a wonderful supporter of the people and the employee-owners of this company," Warnke said. "Dawson is going to be tough to replace." Davey board elects new member, see page 33. Davey President and CEO Pat Covey speaks during the 2018 Davey Shareholders' Meeting, held in May at the Davey Institute.

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