The Davey Tree Expert Company

Did you know one of Davey's subsidiary brands makes holiday wreaths? Learn about the wreath-making process in this Talking Trees Podcast episode. Dennis Zerwas Jr. from Mickman Brothers, a Davey company, shares the inside scoop on the company's holiday wreath-making process. And, don't miss out on learning Dennis' favorite wreath. Listen to the episode here: https://bit.ly/4eglxOg.

November is National Native American Heritage Month. Also commonly known as American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, this month is a time to acknowledge our Native community's important contributions and to celebrate and honor their diverse cultures, traditions and histories. Click the link below to learn more about Indigenous history and heritage.

Native American Heritage Month 2024 Paying tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans.

During Employee Ownership Month, we're spotlighting a few of Davey's President's Council members and sharing their "Why" for employee-ownership.

Dave Bargerstock was inspired to become an employee-owner because of his father. Dave grew up in the Detroit area and in a General Motors household. His father wanted him to have a job that would allow him to have a pension or some kind of equivalent.

"He knew I would need that money later on in life," Dave said. "He really emphasized over and over that you are a young man now, but you are going to be an old man before you realize it. You need to be preparing as soon as you can."

As soon as Dave could start purchasing stock, he did and has always kept the mindset that the stock was for retirement. He believes there is something special that comes along with being an employee-owner.

"It is easy to see the pride and a sense of unity," he said. "When the stock pricing comes out, it is always interesting to see in the tech room people talking about how the stocks went up and how much money they made that day. Employee-ownership is more enriching for the employees and they feel differently about working for us."

Dave highly encourages employees to become employee-owners. He shared a story of a field employee who retired comfortably because of their stock purchases.

"There was a person I worked with and they graduated from college in May with a four-year degree in forestry and by June they started with Davey," Dave said. "He worked his entire career with Davey and retired proudly with over $1.5 million in stock. He was a plant health care (PHC) technician for his entire career. He is now living an incredibly fun and engaging retirement."

Dave Bargerstock is the operations manager, Great Lakes West Operating Group, Residential/Commercial (R/C) services.

Happy Halloween! Davey's San Francisco office got into the Halloween spirit at a local Trunk-or-Treat event. Angelina Burciaga and Makayla Morello were on the hunt for Bigfoot. We love the creativity, Angelina and Makayla! 🌳👣🌳

🎃🐾 Spooktacular Fun at Little Boo! 🐾🎃

The Davey Toledo office recently sponsored the Little Boo event at The Toledo Zoo! This annual celebration attracts thousands, and we were thrilled to hand out candy under our canopy for two full days of festive fun.

The weather was perfect, and it was amazing to see the creative costume trends for 2024! The zoo reported over 10,000 attendees between the Little Boo and Pumpkin Path events—what a turnout! Additionally, our Toledo office is proud to participate in Companies for Kids, helping to ensure that children who can’t afford zoo field trips still have the opportunity to experience the wonders of the zoo.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this fantastic event! Spooky greetings from your Davey Tree team in Toledo! 🎉👻

Davey was excited to welcome representatives from the City of Kent to our corporate headquarters to take a tour of the Davey SEED (Science, Employee Education and Development) Campus. The representatives from the city of Kent included Mayor Jerry Fiala; Dave Ruller, city manager; Eric Helmstedter, economic development director; Bridget Susel, community development director; members of Kent City Council and city staff. We hope you enjoyed touring Davey's SEED Campus!

And that's a wrap on a wonderful weekend at the International Tree Climbing Championship (ITCC) in Savannah, Georgia. Congratulations to all the competitors on a TREEmendous competition. We're proud of Davey climbers Libby Bower, Sarah Hood-Recant, Lily Soderlund, Daniel Barnes and Evan Beck.

Congratulations to Libby and Evan for placing in throwline event. Libby placed second in the women's division and Evan placed third in the men's division. 🌳🎉👏

Here are some more highlights from the weekend.

The Masters' Challenge is underway here at the International Tree Climbing Championship (ITCC) at Daffin Park in Savannah, Georgia! Davey is proud to sponsor the Masters' Challenge. Best of luck to all the competitors!🌳

Another beautiful day for the second day of competition at the International Tree Climbing Championship (ITCC) here in Savannah, Georgia. Wishing Davey climbers Libby Bower, Sarah Hood-Recant, Lily Soderlund, Daniel Barnes and Evan Beck the best of luck today! Here are some of the highlights from yesterday. 🌳👏

During Employee Ownership Month, we're spotlighting a few of Davey's President's Council members and sharing their "Why" for employee-ownership.

Employee-ownership is what drew Kevin Marks back to Davey.

"First, I saw it as a sensible investment," Kevin said. "But I also liked being able to walk up to a property and let people know I'm an owner of this place and someone who has a full stake in the place where I work."

There is a sense of pride that comes with being an employee-owner. Kevin wants to encourage younger Davey employees to recognize the importance of investing in their future, whether that's a retirement nest egg or funds to help with life events as they happen.

"If you are not doing Davey stock, what are you doing? Folks have to think about investing for their future," he said. "Davey stock is easy to get into. It is a good toe in the water and you don’t have to make a huge commitment. Having a connection to the financial success of the company allows you to take pride in everything you do. It leads to your connection to the company and makes you think about the long-term success of your career."

Kevin believes employee-ownership plays a huge part in Davey's culture.

"When you are all in as an employee who owns stock, you take a different perspective when you go to work each day, and I think a healthier perspective," he said. "Because you care about everything from the equipment to customers to how your fellow employees are doing. There is just so much more buy-in when you are bought in."

Kevin Marks is operations manager, Western Operating Group, Residential/Commercial (R/C) services.

Davey's excited to be in Savannah, Georgia, for the International Tree Climbing Championship (ITCC)! Today is the first day of qualifying events. We wish all the Davey climbers the best of luck this weekend. 🌳👏 Pictured are Davey climbers Sarah Hood-Recant, Lily Soderlund, Evan Beck, Daniel Barnes and Libby Bower. Be sure to wish them luck today in the comments.

On one of his first days working for the Davey Tree Expert Co. of Canada, Limited, Fabien Johnstone noticed something different from other places he’d worked: those in leadership positions seemed to understand what it took to do a job in the field.

“The whole management team, from top to bottom, have all done the job,” Fabien, certified arborist, Canadian Utility, said. “So, they know what you're talking about when you have issues. That helps tremendously.”

Since then, Fabien has modeled those he learned from, embodying Davey’s value of leadership in all he does. His work centers on vegetation management for utility powerlines and his manager Daniel Drewes also calls on him to train new apprentices.

“Fabien’s good at explaining what he's doing, why he's doing it – and he's got that patience where he doesn't just get frustrated,” Daniel said. “He’ll work with them, and he’s accountable.”

Fabien says Davey’s values and the opportunity to share in the company’s success as an employee-owner drive his work ethic.

“Employee-ownership changed my look on the company, knowing the benefits that will come down the road,” Fabien said. “I was already taking care of my gear and equipment, but it gave me even more care. I truly enjoy being a Davey employee.”

We're continuing to celebrate Employee Ownership Month and our 45th year of employee ownership with a special quiz! Test your knowledge about what came first — Employee-Ownership at Davey or Pacman, SNL and Chicken McNuggets.

Which is older?
A) Employee-Ownership at Davey
B) Pacman

Which is older?
C) Employee-Ownership at Davey
D) SNL (Saturday Night Live)

Which is older?
E) Employee-Ownership at Davey
F) Chicken McNuggets

Comment with your answers!

Davey spent the day with our partners the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tree Pittsburgh to plant 32 "Score for the Trees" trees at Schenley Park. Representatives from the Schenley Ice Skating Rink, Schenley Park Disc Golf players and the city of Pittsburgh also helped plant trees. Iceburgh also made an appearance to lend a helping hand. Thank you to all the volunteers who assisted with adding more trees to Pittsburgh's tree canopy. Trees are the answer!

Davey's proud to partner with the Penguins for the "Score for the Trees" program. The "Score for the Trees" program plants one tree in Pittsburgh for every home goal scored. The trees planted today resulted from the goals scored at home during the 2023-24 regular season. Davey is also a sustainability partner with the Penguins through its "Penguins Pledge" sustainability initiative.

Be sure to cheer on the Penguins during the 2024-25 regular season, because more 🥅's = more 🌳's for Pittsburgh!

Tom Anderson, district manager, Buffalo office, joined seventh-grade students at Franklin Middle School in planting an American sycamore tree sapling at the school’s playground in Buffalo, New York.

The sapling, an Artemis I Moon Tree, was grown from one of 50 seeds that traveled to the moon on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) unmanned Orion spacecraft Artemis I mission in November 2022.

Tom provided advice on how to plant and care for the tree. The students assisted him by shoveling dirt and filling the hole.

“Everyone was really excited about it,” Tom said. “There were a lot of people in the community there as well as the local news. It was a happy story, and it was nice to be involved with it.”

Is it true you can't grow anything underneath black walnut trees? Let's find out the answer from Davey expert Lou Meyer in this Talking Trees Podcast. Lou shares information about black walnut trees, including if black walnuts are edible and what specific plants you can grow under these trees. Listen to the episode here: https://bit.ly/3Y9Wjeb.

During Employee Ownership Month, we're spotlighting a few of Davey's President's Council members and sharing their "Why" for employee-ownership.

Joe Gregory's employee-ownership story is that he missed out on the first stock subscription he was eligible for and he encourages younger employees to pay attention to Davey's employee-ownership opportunities.

"I regret not paying more attention as a younger employee who was focused on different things at the time," Joe said. "If you don’t participate and you work for Davey, you are basically leaving a big part of the opportunities on the table. There are a lot of companies you can go work for to get a paycheck but Davey is willing to bring you into the loop."

Joe grew up in Northeast Ohio and was familiar with Davey. He always heard it was a good company.

"People would just say that, 'Davey is a good company" and I didn’t know what they meant," he said. "I think I found out what it meant through employee-ownership. Being an employee-owner has been a source of pride for me."

When talking with employees where he sees their potential, Joe believes it is his job to let employees know how good they are, why they deserve a piece of Davey and how they can help shape the company's future.

"Employee-ownership helps keep employees in the loop. I think that is what people want and they want to know what is going on with their company," Joe said. "When you combine Davey’s environmental mission and employee-ownership, it is very powerful to attract and retain talent. It helps bring out the best in them. One of the reasons why we get such longevity out of our employees is driven by employee-ownership."

Joe is director, Great Lakes/Midwest Operations, Davey Resource Group, Environmental Consulting.

These striking photos of the aurora borealis were taken along transmission lines in Cousins Island, Maine. Nik Carlson, UVM lead specialist, Davey Resource Group, Utility Vegetation Management (UVM), shared this "after hours" office view of the northern lights with us. Beautiful photos, Nik!

Here we grow again! Davey's pleased to welcome Wise Oak, Inc. of Londonderry, Vt., to our family of brands.

Since 2005, Wise Oak has provided high-quality tree and shrub care services, customized landscaping and maintenance and estate care services throughout southern Vermont. With the acquisition, Wise Oak’s 13 employees will continue to work as part of Davey’s Residential/Commercial (R/C) service line.

Give them a warm welcome in the comments!

Wise Oak Joins Davey Tree | Davey Tree The Davey Tree Expert Company is pleased to welcome Wise Oak, Inc. of Londonderry, Vt., to its family of brands.