LETTER FROM THE CEO
One Year In…My Thanks to You Green Industry AS I BEGAN THIS COLUMN, IT DAWNED ON ME THAT MY one-year anniversary of working for this great industry is almost over. As I reflect on that, I am very grateful for all the wonderful people I have had a chance to get to know in my first year. I am also grateful to the leaders in this industry who have stepped forward to help lead and shape NALP to assist our members and the industry as a whole as we navigated through COVID-19. This has really been a team effort this year and I want to take a moment to recognize some of the great work that got done this year. One of the first things I learned in this industry is that a lot of you enjoy seeing other lawn or landscape facilities. However, with no in-person meetings this year we had to figure out a new way to get you the learning and sights you craved. The solution was something we call On Tour. On Tour is a videotaped segment that shares insights into how a company lays out their facilities, but it also features the unique ways they run their businesses. Producing an On Tour segment takes quite a bit of time from an owner and their team and it also asks them to share some of their secrets, so getting worthy participants was a concern. With that said, I am so grateful to both Krisjan Berzins and Jeff Rossen for allowing us to do an in-depth dive into their businesses. If you haven’t had a chance to catch an On Tour yet, just go to our website and check them out. When COVID swept into all our lives in March, it forced us at NALP to put everything on hold
6 The Landscape Professional //November/December 2020
diversity and inclusion efforts demonstrated their commitment to making NALP a better association to serve this industry.
Hosting our own Annual Meeting will allow NALP to move locations, reaching members where they are as opposed to making them come to the same and focus on keeping the indus- location each year. Establishing try working. Led by Andrew Bray a Diversity and Inclusion Council that is empowered to help guide and his team, NALP was able NALP in its diversity and incluto get the lawn and landscapes sion efforts helps position NALP industry included on the Department of Homeland Security to make real impact in our industry and hopefully provide CISA essential businesses list. This enabled us to leverage this a new source of labor for our industry. national recognition with the There are so many more state governments and ensure people I would like to thank for that we could keep all our their support in this first year industry working. I would be rebut let me thank two groups in miss if I did not thank our partparticular: The NALP Executive ners at the state associations, as well as our members in those Committee who provided me states, who lobbied vigorously to with guidance and wisdom. Andrew, Jeff, Shayne and Bob, ensure that our industry would thank you for your support and be able to continue providing your leadership. And finally, I beautiful lawns and landscapes want to thank the NALP team: that have helped America cope Carol, Andrew, Heather, Lisa, with COVID. I also want to thank the NALP Corey, Scott, Stacia, Bob, Cheryl, Jenn, Tony, Margo, Melissa, Pam, Board for their leadership this Laurie, Amy, Nitesh, Jill, Page, year. They took on some tough issues and made hard decisions Sharon, Tracey, Valerie, Kristen, Courtney, Kayla and Jennifer. that positioned NALP to better You’re a great team and I am serve this industry. Specifically, lucky to work with you. their decision to begin hosting our own NALP Annual Meeting in 2022, as well as their decision to take more of a Britt Wood, CEO leadership role in our industry’s
