SUBSCRIBE
Andy Vande Hey
President, Vande Hey Co.
Appleton, Wis.
1. Tell me about Vande Hey Co. and how you got involved?
We started in 1950; my grandfather started the company. We started off in lawns, and then grew, as a lot of landscapers do, into other things. We’ve made a conscious effort to be diverse. Now we have tree care, a pool division, a design center, a showroom, we’ve got maintenance, snow removal … I was like 12 when I started. I remember getting my learner’s permit and started working 50-hour weeks. I went to college thinking about getting into medicine. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I was running a massive project, and I just fell in love with it. I changed my major to business and then began focusing on what I could learn in college about business that I could apply to the family business.
2. Any company or tool that you really rely on, that you’d want to send some love to?
I would give a shout-out to our supplier, Carlin (Horticultural Supplies). It’s landscape maintenance; they have been there for us with any issues. I look at everything with vendors as a partnership, and they have been fantastic to work with over the years. It’s not just the cookies that Ann Maletzke brings, but the partnership of having our backs, and vice versa.
3. What motivated you to join a peer group?
You’re constantly learning, right? I want to be with the best and brightest and the people who have a growth mindset that love this industry. At the last meeting we had, I came out with 29 different ideas to implement on our team. You might learn something from the smaller guy that’s a fraction of your size. We’re at the $15 million range, and we want to push to $20 million. There are several people in our peer group who have pushed from $15 million to $20 million … so, what did they do?
4. Who has the best nickname on the crew?
He’s a lifelong friend and one of our partners at Vande Hey: Scoob. His name is Gerald Schumacher, and he’s as old as dirt. He’s been with the team since before I started — my dad hired him many, many years ago. He’s getting close to retirement, but he loves the industry, and he hasn’t backed down. He’s always been Scoob; you can’t refer to him as anything else. When people say Gerald, I’m like, “Who are you talking about?”
5. How big is your family?
We’re empty-nesters. My wife and I have four children. A son who is in Italy studying, then three daughters — one who’s a labor-and-delivery nurse; one who just joined our company after graduating from Iowa State last spring; and our youngest is going to school for business, playing basketball for St. Cloud State in Minnesota. And my bride, we just hired her replacement. She has been in the family business since 2012; now she wants to do other things and retire. Last summer, we hired someone to fill her role. She still works here and there, but she doesn’t have a desk anymore, so I guess that means she’s officially retired.
