Ruppert Landscape recently promoted Sam Wells to region manager in the company’s landscape management division. He will oversee operations in the company’s three North Carolina landscape management branches, located in Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte.
Wells holds a bachelor’s degree in applied horticulture from State University of New York (SUNY) Cobleskill and is a landscape industry certified technician and certified commercial applicator. He has more. than 27 years of landscape industry experience, having begun his career as an intern with Ruppert in 1994 and worked his way up to field manager and then area manager. After the sale of the company, he held branch manager positions with some of the largest organizations in the industry before deciding to rejoin Ruppert in 2017 as branch manager in Raleigh.
In 2019, he was recognized with the Achievement Award, one of the company’s top honors, for demonstrating outstanding job execution and high-quality results. Earlier in 2021, he helped facilitate the opening of the Durham branch and stepped in as branch manager to oversee operations in its inaugural year.
Additionally, Ruppert Cos. named Grant McCarthy to director of tax and compliance. He will be responsible for the income tax and compliance process and related financial oversight for all Ruppert Cos.’ entities.
McCarthy is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Maryland, College Park. He brings eight years of accounting and tax experience to the position, having most recently served as a tax manager at CohnReznick LLP.
System Pavers promoted three to key organizational roles as the company prepares for continued accelerated growth and expansion. Current COO Syed Zaidi is stepping into his new role as System Pavers CEO.
Zaidi brings more than 20 years of knowledge and expertise to the position and will continue to emphasize driving sales, streamlining operations and providing a stellar customer experience from start to finish.
Founder Larry Green will begin his role as executive chairman of System Pavers, predominantly focusing on the core value of System Pavers: bringing people together. As a well-known and respected leader in the remodeling industry, he will continue to build and deepen relationships with vendors, partners and other industry leaders to support organic and new market growth.
Furthermore, founder Doug Lueck will focus on his role as chief innovation officer, leading System Pavers into the future with an emphasis on incorporating technology to increase efficiency and improve overall operations.
The Davey Tree Expert Co. promoted Scott Morris to district manager of Davey’s Albany Residential/Commercial (R/C) services office. Scott Morris portrait
Morris started his career at Davey in 2009 as an intern and later held positions of plant health care technician and sales and service technician. In 2012, he was promoted to sales and service coordinator and in 2014 to sales arborist for the Albany R/C office. In 2018, Morris was promoted to assistant district manager of the same office. He has been a crucial component in the advancement of Davey’s plant health care business within his market.
In 2012, Morris graduated from the Davey Institute of Tree Sciences, which is Davey’s flagship training program in biological sciences, safety, tree and plant care and management techniques. Morris is an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist and holds an ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification. He also holds a New York commercial applicators license in multiple categories. Morris earned his bachelor’s degree in plant science from SUNY Cobleskill.
Sarah Gewert is set to become the new executive board member for marketing and sales at the Stihl Group.
Gewert will take over from Norbert Pick, who will retire when his executive board contract expires on Dec. 31, 2022.
After completing her studies in economics, Cologne, Germany-born Gewert began her career in 2005 at designer furniture manufacturer hülsta-werke Hüls GmbH & Co. KG in Stadtlohn, where she rose to become head of marketing. In 2014, Gewert joined Andreas Stihl Aa & Co. KG in Waiblingen as the senior head of marketing communication. She took charge of the department in 2020 and became responsible for the Stihl Group’s global marketing communication activities. Since then, Gewert has been a strong presence in the Stihl marketing strategy and brand identity and successfully introduced direct online marketing and customer engagement.
Steve Grau and Ronald P. Ropos Jr. join Winter Equipment as commercial sales account managers, with the responsibility of developing and maintaining relationships with commercial snow removal companies.
Grau joins Winter Equipment bringing a wealth of knowledge of automotive and high-volume call center experience. Prior to joining Winter Equipment, he held positions with OEM PartSource and 104.7 WKKY.
Ropos Jr. also recently joined the Winter Equipment sales team. Ropos Jr. is from Mentor, Ohio, where he graduated from Mentor High School.
LMN added addition of three senior leaders to drive the company’s continued expansion and product innovation efforts.
Joel Schaubel, senior vice president, lending, brings more than 25 years of sales, marketing and leadership experience across the landscape and construction industries in Canada to LMN. He’ll lead the company’s growing lending arm, creating new opportunities for landscapers to access capital to grow their business. Prior to LMN, Schaubel was vice president of North America for RodRadar, president at the heavy civil construction company Powell Foundations and also spent more than 15 years in various roles with Toromont Cat.
Brent Giles, senior vice president, Greenius, joins LMN to lead operations for the recently acquired Greenius team. An accomplished industry executive with 20 plus years of experience, Giles has held numerous positions in the landscape and snow industries. Most recently, he spent three years in a leadership role in the customer success division at Dozr, a marketplace for online rental of heavy equipment. Prior to this, he was the director of franchise operations and corporate training for Clintar Outdoor Services corporate head office, one of North America’s largest turf and snow companies. Over his career, he has led sales and operational initiatives at a number of landscape and snow companies including Weedman Canada, Nutri Lawn and as the owner of The Gardener.
Sean Barry, senior vice president, product, joins LMN to help create the best product experience for landscape customers to grow their business. Sean spent the last 15 years in senior digital and product innovation roles at Midwest-based advertising agency Laughlin Constable, helping drive digital transformation for brands like Firestone Complete Auto Care, Sears Auto, Show Your Way, Generac, Byrider, and Master Lock. He is based at LMN’s growing location in Milwaukee, Wis.
TrueWinds Consulting named Michael Mayberry as a technology solutions consultant.
Mayberry, chief technology officer with Level Green Landscaping in Upper Marlboro, Md., (a role which he will maintain), will be available to TrueWinds clients to advise them on how to maximize their return on investment with technology as it applies to the green industry including:
- Internal and external communications
- Job tracking and job costing
- Financial management
- Operational processes
- Equipment and fleet management
- Processes for selecting and integrating technology platforms
- Ways to maximize their use of existing technology
