Takeuchi-U.S. has named Guy Waggoner as its new western region business manager.

Waggoner will be responsible for all sales development activity and market share objectives in Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Washington State, Idaho, California and Hawaii. His duties will include dealer development and recruitment, inventory control, collections, forecasting, promotions and national and direct accounts support.

Based in Folsom, Calif., Waggoner comes to Takeuchi from his former role as West Coast regional sales manager for Hyundai Construction Equipment where he represented the company’s excavators and wheel loaders.

WorkWave has called on NFL football legend Joe Theismann as this year’s keynote speaker at the 2022 Beyond Service User Conference, which combines three top field service conferences into a single, momentous event for professionals and leaders across the industry.

At the conference, Theismann will share how passion, leadership and teamwork create a comprehensive game plan for success, and how an effective leader empowers individuals to step out of their comfort zone to achieve a higher level of performance.

Prior to his career-ending leg injury against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football in 1985, Theismann led his team to the Super Bowl XVII championship, was voted the NFL’s Most Valuable Player and was twice named both the Pro Bowl’s Most Valuable Player and the NFL’s Man of the Year. After retiring from active sports, he was an Emmy Award-winning analyst for two decades on ESPN’s critically acclaimed Sunday Night NFL broadcast. He is currently an entrepreneur and well known for his long standing community service efforts for St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

“I am thrilled to be joining this year’s WorkWave Beyond Service User Conference, Real Green’s Solutions Conference and Coalmarch’s CO2 Conference,” Theismann said. “The field service industry is made up of hard working, dedicated people who are essential in keeping our world running. I am honored to be able to be a part of this amazing conference that will empower field service professionals to think, perform and go beyond service. I look forward to meeting WorkWave’s customers at this must-attend event!”

This year’s conference will be held Jan. 9-12 at the Renaissance Orlando and, in addition to this year’s keynote, will feature thought leadership sessions and customer success stories across multiple learning tracks, in-depth workshops, extensive networking events and entertainment.

Hunter Industries named its 2021 Ann Hunter-Welborn Circle of Excellence Award winners.

Presented annually since 2018, the awards recognize innovative socially responsible practices within the green industry with the goal of inspiring others to join the movement. Hunter Industries evaluates nominations from its sales team to determine the recipients.

• Bill Cohn, Massey Services: For actively seeking new ways to mitigate the company’s environmental footprint while positively impacting the diverse communities it serves.
• Jon Lauer, Professional Irrigation Systems: For generously collecting 17,000 cans of food from community members and matching the donation for a local food bank.
• Shawn Maestretti, Studio Petrichor: For promoting environmental initiatives that embody ethical practices and nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change.
• Paul Vecchia, Collaborative V Design Studio: For his innovative approach to client relationship management that encourages environmentally minded solutions.

Kichler Lighting President Irene Tasi has left the company to pursue another opportunity. Vijay Shankar, Kichler’s executive vice president of sales, will assume the president’s position effective Nov. 29.

Tasi led Kichler for the past three years of her 20-plus year tenure with parent company Masco. She played an instrumental role in positioning the lighting company for its next chapter of sustainable growth. Shankar, who joined Kichler in 2019 from a senior sales leadership role at ShurTech Brands (now Shurtape Technologies), will continue to drive this evolution in his new role.

“I want to thank Irene for her outstanding leadership of Kichler Lighting and the tremendous impact she has had on the company and our people. I am looking forward to sustaining the growth trajectory she has put into place,” Shankar said. “It’s an exciting time for Kichler as we introduce a new way to work and continue to deliver innovative lighting designs and solutions to our customers.”

During his time at Kichler, Shankar has focused on profit and loss responsibility across all of the company’s distribution channels, addressing such challenges as mitigating tariff impacts, creating focused customer strategies and streamlining customer data and analytics. Prior to Kichler, Shankar served as senior vice president of sales at ShurTech, where he pioneered the company’s ecommerce strategy, expanded category management and customer supply chain collaboration and drove customer strategies across multiple distribution channels.

Shankar has an MBA from Pittsburg State University in Kansas and a Bachelor of Commerce with a concentration in accounting from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India.

Boss added landscape industry veteran Stephanie Leveling to its Elevation Team.

The Elevation Team is unique to Boss and serves as a support system for new and existing users to help them achieve superior results in their businesses when implementing Boss business management software into their operations. Leveling joins John Richter and Lisa LaRose.

A graduate of Illinois State University with a bachelor of science in agribusiness/horticulture, Leveling started her career in the green industry as an intern with Heimos Greenhouses in Millstadt, Ill., and worked there after graduation.

Leveling moved to the commercial maintenance area as a foreman for Munie Greencare Professionals in Caseyville, Ill., and built a career in account management that has spanned three decades working for some of the largest commercial maintenance companies in the St. Louis market. For the last seven years, she has served as the divisional manager for Ideal Landscape Group located in south St. Louis County.

Active with the NALP’s Women in Landscape Network, Leveling was recently appointed to the Gateway Professional Horticulture Association board in St. Louis as a member at large. Active in the community as well, Leveling is on the board of directors for the O’Fallon Little Panthers Football Club and served as the committee chair in the local Cub Scouts.