Ruppert Landscape announced another round of personnel changes, including promotions and hires at its Maryland landscape construction branch, Gainesville, Va., landscape management branch and its Washington, D.C., landscape management branch.
Rich Schubach will retire as branch manager of the Maryland landscape construction branch. Mike Felts will be promoted to fill his position.
Schubach joined the company in 1982 as a crewman in the landscape construction division and has since held many different positions, including foreman, nursery manager, landscape purchasing agent, director of landscape operations and, most recently, branch manager. Throughout his career, he also served four years on the board of advisors for Mississippi State University and six years on the board of advisors for the American Society of Landscape Architects Maryland Chapter.
Felts has spent most of 2015 working side-by-side with Schubach to learn the branch manager position, Ruppert said. In his five years with the company, Felts has served as estimator, production manager and, most recently, operations manager. He also has prior experience outside the industry as a partner in a general contracting company in North Carolina and serving six years as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. Two of those six years were spent deployed to Afghanistan. Felts graduated from Virginia Tech in 2005 with a bachelor’s in business management.
The Gainesville landscape management branch promoted Cynthia Corrales to branch administrator, Jake Heuple to enhancement manager and Joe Beretz to area manager. It also welcomed back Rob Groves as area manager.
Corrales joined the company in 2014 as a receptionist and assistant branch administrator. Prior to joining the company, she worked as a dispatcher at Dulles International Airport.
Heuple started with the company in 2013 as an intern. After graduating from Virginia Tech, where he studied landscape and turf management, he was hired as enhancement field manager in 2014.
Groves has 14 years of industry experience and holds an Associate of Applied Science degree in landscape/horticulture technology from Pennsylvania College of Technology. He joined the company in 2006 as enhancement field manager. Later, he served as enhancement manager for eight years. He left the company earlier this year to pursue other opportunities and returned with additional experience and knowledge to apply to his position, the company says.
The Washington, D.C., landscape management branch hired Kate Bluey as branch administrator and Greg Hardy as enhancement manager, and promoted Jack Hendrickson to area manager.
Bluey worked as a mental health case manager, wholesale account manager, personal fitness instructor and counselor for at-risk youth prior to joining Ruppert. She also has experience in landscape maintenance and administration. She holds a bachelor’s in human development with a concentration in human services from Virginia Tech.
Hardy has 30 years of landscape industry experience and has held positions such as ornamental plant healthcare specialist, landscape designer, turf and landscape sales manager, landscape production manager and landscape maintenance manager. He studied landscape design at George Washington University and is a certified commercial pesticide applicator and certified horticulturist.
Hendrickson holds a bachelor’s in marketing from Salisbury University. He gained experience in teaching, tutoring and marketing before joining Ruppert in 2010 as an assistant field manager. Most recently, he served as field manager.
