FMC Corp. hired Kyle Richards as pest and nursery/greenhouse market manager within its GSS professional solutions division.

“We are very pleased to have someone with Kyle’s deep industry and investigational experience joining our team,” said Michael Sisti, North American marketing manager for FMC’s GSS professional solutions group.

Richards has insecticide experience in research & development with both DuPont and Corteva Agriscience. He has worked with biologicals focused on seed-applied insecticides and has strong foundational knowledge of the diamide (chlorantraniliprole and cyantraniliprole) class of chemistry.

Davey Tree expands in Canada, promotes new district manager

The Davey Tree Expert Co. of Canada expanded its Residential/Commercial (R/C) operations in Brantford, Ontario and promoted Josh Cook to district manager.

“This new residential territory expands the Davey brand within the Brantford market and better positions us to serve our customers with comprehensive grounds maintenance services,” said Dylan Glazer, operations vice president, R/C services, Davey Canada.

Cook started his Davey career in 2012 as a groundsperson at the Hamilton, Ontario, office before being promoted to climber later that year. He later held positions of foreman and sales representative and in 2015 was promoted to assistant district manager.

Cook is an International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist and a 2018 graduate of the Davey Institute of Tree Sciences.

Davey Canada recently added Chris Deathe as a market manager for Brantford.

LandCare promotes four and hires one

LandCare — No. 12 on the 2022 LM150 list — promoted four leaders and added one new team member to help support the company’s continued growth in their Texas and Northeast regions.

The company promoted Joel Butler, Paul Oyler, Renee Guerrero and hired Maritza Miranda. Brian Donnan was also promoted in LandCare’s Philadelphia branch.

LandCare appointed Butler to the newly created role of market vice president of the North Texas region and will oversee LandCare’s Dallas/Fort Worth market, with a focus on the development and growth of his team.

Oyler, who started with LandCare in 2017 as an account manager is now the branch manager of LandCare’s newest branch, located in Fort Worth, Texas.

The company promoted Guerrero to branch manager of the San Antonio branch. Guerrero joined LandCare in 2019 as an account manager. Guerrero has an extensive background in the landscaping industry that includes account management and customer service.

The newest addition to the Texas region, Maritza Miranda, joined LandCare’s Dallas West team as branch manager. Miranda has held various senior-level leadership roles within the Texas market, with the past five years being directly associated with the landscape industry.

Donnan has been promoted to branch manager of LandCare’s Philadelphia Metro branch.

Utah State professor earns award

The Crop Science Society of America recently awarded Kelly Kopp, Utah State University (USU) Extension turfgrass and water conservation specialist, the Crop Science Extension Education Award.

The award recognizes outstanding contributions to crop science through education, national and international service and research.

Kopp is director of USU’s Center for Water Efficient Landscaping and professor in the USU Department of Plants, Soils & Climate. She is a recognized authority on turfgrass water use and nutrient dynamics, as well as landscape water use efficiency. She focuses her outreach efforts on sustainable turfgrass management, water conservation and drought response.

Kopp’s award will be formally presented this fall during the Crop Science Society of America’s annual meeting in Baltimore, Md.

Mullin hires new COO and five others

Mullin — No. 138 on the 2022 LM150 list — announced the hiring of Nikki Burmeister as its new COO, alongside five other moves:

• Daniel Garcia-Enriquez joined Mullin as a recruiter, human resources and generalist.
• Mullin named Kevin Schimpf its Baton Rouge, La., branch manager. Schimpf has over 10 years of experience under his belt supervising operations for various companies.
• Mike Wood joined Mullin as a residential account manager. Wood has a history of working in the agriculture and horticulture industry and studied plant and soil sciences at the University of Kentucky.
• Mullin hired Rob Murphy as ancillary services manager.
• Former Mullin intern Noah Baquet officially joined the company as a field engineer.