People on the Move: Donnelly inducted into Green Industry Hall of Fame; Buyers Products names new district sales manager; Davey makes three appointments, promotions

Thomas C. Donnelly, president, BrightView Landscape Development (Photo: Business Wire)

Tom C. Donnelly, ASLA, president of BrightView Landscape Development, was inducted into Green Industry Hall of Fame, a California-based landscape organization.

With the mission to honor and preserve green contributions, the annual Green Industry Awards honor exceptional individuals who have worked in, invented and changed the industry. The Green industry Awards are held yearly and honor inductees from many different green industry specialties.

Donnelly — along with eight other green industry leaders — was presented with the award May 4 at a ceremony and dinner at the Proud Bird Event Center in Los Angeles. Donnelly was recognized for BrightView’s commitment to helping its clients create better environments through environmentally friendly practices.

“Our teams at BrightView proudly pursue the craft of landscaping every day, and I am humbled to be inducted into the Green Industry Hall of Fame,” Donnelly said. “It is an honor to be receiving this recognition alongside so many trailblazers in the landscape industry.”

Donnelly, who has a bachelor of science degree in landscape architecture from Rutgers University, began his career in the landscaping industry over 39 years ago. He has served as president of BrightView’s development services segment since June 2014, when the company was formed in the merger of ValleyCrest Companies and The Brickman Group. In that role, he leads BrightView’s landscape architecture, landscape development and tree growing and tree specimen moving businesses.

Chris Boozer will assume the position of district sales manager for North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia of Buyers Products.

In this role, Boozer will be responsible for representing Buyers Products and its associated brands (SnowDogg plows, SaltDogg spreaders, ScoopDogg pushers and DumperDogg inserts) throughout the territory. He brings years of sales experience in the truck equipment industry, most recently serving as regional sales manager at Lee Transport Equipment.

Boozer is taking over for Ernie Kish, who is retiring after more than two decades with Buyers. Throughout his career, Kish provided exceptional support and professional service to the customers in his territory.

“Ernie is a super star,” said Dave Zelis, director of sales and marketing at Buyers Products. “We’re proud that he represented us all these years. We’ll miss him, and we are certain his customers will miss him too. But, we have no doubt that Chris will be a worthy successor. Chris brings a wealth of knowledge about the truck equipment and snow and ice control industries, and he will be an incredible asset to both Buyers and our customers.”

The Davey Tree Expert Co. recently announced three new appointments or promotions.

Alex Julius has been appointed to employee development and safety training specialist, Davey Institute.

She will be working with the Davey Institute, corporate recruiting and employee development and the safety department. In her new role, Julius will develop and support educational and safety training.

In her previous role, Julius was the industry education manager for the International Society of Arboriculture and led a team that developed educational programming, conference programming, workshops, symposia and instructor-led training. Julius has authored dozens of articles and professional presentations all geared toward safe work practices and career development of tree care professionals. Additionally, she has coordinated tree climbing championships.

Julius holds a master’s degree in environmental conservation with a concentration in arboriculture and urban forestry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a bachelor’s degree from Smith College. She also has a graduate certificate in instructional design from the University of Wisconsin, Stout.

Davey also promoted Jason Evans to operations manager, western operating group, residential/commercial (R/C) services.

Over the past two years, Evans has been the market manager of the western operating group, the largest operating group in the R/C service line. In his new position, he will collaborate with Andrew Ferguson, vice president, western R/C operations.

After joining Davey in 2006 as an accelerated sales trainee, Evans was promoted to sales arborist in 2008 and then to assistant district manager the same year, both in the San Francisco R/C office. He was promoted to assistant district manager of the Menlo Park, Calif., R/C office in 2010 and was promoted to district manager a few months later. In 2011, Evans became district manager of the East Bay, Calif., R/C office.

Evans is a former member of the Davey President’s Council, which brainstorms and researches new ideas related to the company’s operations and presents them to senior management for review and consideration for implementation. He also served on Davey’s district manager client experience council.

In 2008, Evans graduated from the Davey Institute of Tree Sciences (DITS), which is Davey’s flagship training program in biological sciences, safety, tree and plant care and management techniques

He is an International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist and holds a California Qualified Applicator License. Evans is also bilingual and speaks Spanish. He attended Utah State University and studied ornamental horticulture.

Finally, Davey promoted Andrew Ferguson to vice president of western R/C operations.

In his new role, Ferguson will assume oversite of Davey’s western R/C operating group and continue to manage the south-central R/C operating group.

Ferguson started with Davey in 1998 as a plant health care (PHC) technician in the Denver territory. In 2001, he was promoted to PHC coordinator. Ferguson was promoted to district manager of the west Denver R/C office in 2006. In 2013, he was promoted to operations manager of the south-central R/C operating group.

Ferguson is a former member of the Davey President’s Council. He graduated in 2000 from the DITS. He is an International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in forest resource management from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.