EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE Ken Fisher, ONLA Executive Director, ken@onla.org
What we do together matters when it comes to growing and protecting the future of our industry in Ohio and beyond. We must continue to grow and prosper together. For over one hundred years, the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association has been a key partner with businesses in the State to help grow and protect our industry. State Associations like ONLA are the backbone of our industry, much of the work we do is “local”, and relationships are key to our mutual success. This is truer now than ever. Our industry is strong, growing, and essential to the economy across the State of Ohio. There continue to be challenges with labor, employee development, generational business transfer, regulations, and now safe work practices in a pandemic, but working together as an industry and an association is the best way to productively overcome these challenges.
industry and ONLA are positioned for growth and that requires the full-time attention I have been unable to provide. We have recently commenced a search and hope to fill the position in the coming months. Details can be found on our website at onla.org/execdir. I will remain in the role until a candidate has been selected and assist in the transition. The ONLA Board of Directors and staff are great stewards of the association and have been stellar partners over the past few years. I look forward to the new heights ONLA can achieve in the future. What we do together matters when it comes to growing and protecting the future of our industry in Ohio and beyond. Your membership and participation in ONLA events will encourage others to join. I appreciate your continued support of ONLA. Help us get the word out: the industry benefits from a growing ONLA membership. B
In March of 2017, a few ONLA Board Members approached me about serving as Executive Director to provide a strategic assessment of organizational priorities and resources and to help guide the accomplishment of overall association deliverables and goals. As you probably know, I also serve as AmericanHort President and CEO, so my attention to ONLA has been split. This has worked relatively well due to the fact that our full-time staff of Roni, Karen, and Alana along with key consultants we use to drive our events, education, and advocacy make ONLA one of the most effective State Associations in the country. You should be very proud of the effort, diligence, and stewardship this team puts into the membership and programming for ONLA. I sure am. As our industry continues to grow and prosper ONLA’s focus on industry education and certification, advocacy, workforce development, facilitating commerce, and expanding the professional network has also grown. As I’ve reported before, the green industry in Ohio supports direct employment of nearly 100,000 jobs and direct economic output of $14.5 Billion. Only California, Florida and Texas score hirer than Ohio for industry economic impact. We are a big economic player in the state, making our association’s business and advocacy programs critical to your future growth and success. (In 2018, it is estimated that the green industry in Ohio paid $628 Million in state taxes and $1.02 Billion in Federal taxes— we need to continue to invest to protect our industry.) To help steward this new growth, the ONLA Board of Directors and I have identified the need for a permanent, full-time Executive Director position to continue to ensure maximum effectiveness, support, and results for ONLA members. The onla.org
Ken can be contacted at ken@onla.org
November/December 2020
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