News

James Ingram named president of Bartlett Tree Experts

STAMFORD, Conn. – Bartlett Tree Experts has named James Ingram president. 

Ingram, currently vice president and division manager of the company’s field operations in New England and eastern Canada, will take the helm of the company officially Jan. 1, 2013. Bartlett’s former president, Greg Daniels, announced his retirement in May. 

“Based on my personal experiences working with Jim and the success he’s had as a leader in our company, I can confidently say I feel great about this decision.

“He has strong ideas for the continued growth of the company that fit with my vision of where we are now and where we’re headed,” said Robert Bartlett Jr., chairman and CEO of Bartlett Tree Experts.

Ingram joined Bartlett Tree Experts as an arborist representative in 1983 and was promoted to local manager in 1984.

Ingram has held his current role since 1993.

In that time, he established the New England territory as the company’s largest sales region. He is responsible for financial oversight of 17 Bartlett locations and has been actively involved in recruiting, managing and training a staff of more than 40 arborists. 

Bartlett Tree Experts ranked No. 8 on the 2012 Lawn & Landscape Top 100 List with revenue of $167 million. The Connecticut-based company has offices in 26 states, Canada, Great Britain and Ireland.

IA show registration now open

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – Attendee registration is now open for the Irrigation Association’s 2012 Irrigation Show, Nov. 4-5, and education conference, Nov. 2-6, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.

Attendees who register by Oct. 5 will receive discounted rates. New offerings in 2012 include:

• Charlie Hall, professor of horticulture and Ellison Chair in International Floriculture at Texas A&M University will provide a macro perspective to economics in the industry.
• The Florida Irrigation Society and Workforce Florida are holding a job and career fair open to all people
• A new product contest will offer attendees the opportunity to vote on their favorite products. Visit www.irrigationshow.org to register.

Two top students selected for major GIE Media scholarships

CLEVELAND – GIE Media, the nation’s leading publisher of horticulture and green industry trade magazines, has named the winners of its annual Young Leaders Scholarship.

Robin Cannon, right, was one of two  winners of the GIE Media Young Leaders Scholarship.

Robin Cannon, a junior at Kent State University-Salem, and Judson LeCompte (pictured), a graduate student at Auburn University, will both receive $5,000 to continue their education this fall.

Cannon, who currently works as a horticulture intern at the Shaker Heights, Ohio, Country Club, has spent several years pursuing her degree and working to support her family. She was the horticulturist for three years at the Boulder Creek Golf Course in Streetsboro, Ohio, which is ranked one of the best public courses in Ohio. She established and ran the greenhouses on site there, and currently manages a crew at Wheeler Landscaping.

“Many people have said to me over the course of the past two years that I should be content with the job that I have, and that I should quit school,” she wrote in her application essay. “I strongly disagree. I believe that you can never stop learning, and that there is always someone that can teach you something that you didn’t already know.”

LeCompte, a first year graduate student at Auburn University, brings a wide range of experience in the green industry to his work. He worked as the manager of a garden center, where he was responsible for 15 employees and $12 million a year in sales, and led several student groups as an undergraduate. His research has focused on the use of gray water and salt water in irrigation, sustainable landscape practices and the development of green roofs.

“Students in the green industry truly are the next generation of the industry,” said Chris Foster, president and CEO of GIE Media. “We view this award as just one way we can support the incoming class of entrepreneurs, stand-out professionals and researchers in all the industries we serve.”

ANLA, OFA to form new trade association

COLUMBUS – The Board of Directors of OFA – The Association of Horticulture Professionals voted to begin the process of organizing a new association with the American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA).

After months of discussion, the working group comprised of leaders from both organizations determined it was time to formally explore creating a new trade association.

OFA and ANLA announced in January 2012 the formation of a joint venture to support business education and government relations activities. The vision statement adopted by OFA’s board of directors expressed the desire to form a new organization if it brings more value to our members and the industry. Since June 2011, OFA’s executive committee has been meeting with ANLA’s leaders about the opportunity for and viability of a formal relationship between the two organizations. As early as the first meeting, the idea of forming a new organization has been discussed by the joint venture working group.

“We are listening to our members. Results of a membership and organizational study performed at the end of last year indicated that members of both associations want the organizations to work closer to unify the industry,” said OFA President Mike McCabe, owner of McCabe’s Greenhouse & Floral in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. “They want their industry association to be all encompassing – one that touches and links all pieces of the horticulture industry, which can be offered by a new organization.”

The timeline is to have a new organization established no sooner than July of 2013 and no later than January 2014. “This is not a merger. This is taking the best of what both associations do to create a new organization that will advance the industry and better serve our members,” said Michael V. Geary, OFA’s chief executive officer.

In further developments of the joint venture, following ANLA Executive Vice President Bob Dolibois’ scheduled retirement at the end of the year, Geary will become the chief staff executive of both ANLA and OFA beginning on January 1, 2013. The organizations will continue to be governed separately, but Geary will lead the day-to-day operations of both groups.

New England Grows announces 2013 programs

BOSTON – New England Grows theme for 2013 is Frontline thinking. Intelligent solutions.

The event is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 6 to Friday, Feb. 8 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

More than 30 educational seminars are planned. The speaker lineup includes well-known experts and other trendsetting presenters including Bruce Allison, Kirk Armstrong, Kip Creel, Richard Hawke, Dan Heims, Michael Raupp, and Cass Turnbull.

They will address a variety of timely commercial horticultural topics like permaculture, the impact of global climate change on plants and pests, water management and mature tree care, as well as business-growth ideas

“New England Grows is produced by the industry, for the industry,” said New England Grows’ president Mary Hallene of Sylvan Nursery in Westport, Mass.

At New England Grows, green industry professionals can obtain most of their professional Continuing Education (CEU) credits with recertification opportunities for pesticide licenses, NOFA, APLD, LA CES, ISA, CTSP, and most state association credentials.

Early registration goes through Jan. 15 and costs $49 for all three days. The early registration price drops to $45 per person when four or more people from the same company register together.

Pat Jones and Jim Gilbride to lead GIE Media’s Horticulture Group

CLEVELAND – Pat Jones and Jim Gilbride have been promoted to new positions within GIE Media, the leading business media company in the green industry.

Jones becomes business manager and publisher for GIE’s turf publications, including Lawn & Landscape and Golf Course Industry, and Gilbride is now business manager and publisher for the company’s ornamental publications, including Greenhouse Management, Nursery Management and Garden Center.

Jones has led Golf Course Industry as publisher and editorial director for the past three years and recently launched both GCI International and GIE’s new Green Industry Supply Chain Management. He is a veteran golf/turf communications professional and award-winning editor with more than 25 years of market experience in the green industry. In his new position, he will have overall management responsibility for L&L, GCI, GISCM and related digital products and custom media programs.

Gilbride, who has been with GIE since 2004, has been a key factor in the success and rapid growth of the ornamental market publications GIE acquired three years ago. He previously was Associate Publisher and Sales Manager for Greenhouse Management. He will now oversee all aspects of GIE’s ornamental market publications and operations including GM, NM, Garden Center and related products.

“Pat and Jim have both shown they are amazingly passionate about their markets and that they’re incredibly skilled publishing and media pros,” said Chris Foster, GIE CEO. “They are absolutely the right people to lead our Horticulture Group to new levels.”

In a related move, Dave Szy has been promoted to the position of associate publisher for Lawn & Landscape. Szy, a 10-year veteran of GIE’s sales team, was most recently national sales manager for L&L and GIE’s Snow magazine. He will work closely with Jones to manage L&L’s sales and industry relationships.