Spring 2011 TREE Fund Report: New Trustees Welcomed to the TREE Fund Board
Return to Table of Contents – Spring 2011 TREE Fund Report
New Trustees Welcomed to the TREE Fund Board
The TREE Fund welcomed four new members to its Board of Trustees in January.
Steven Asplundh has been engaged in Asplundh Tree Expert Company in some capacity since he was 18, when he took a job in the company’s former manufacturing division assembling chippers and lift trucks. He spent many years with Asplundh’s field crews before advancing into the corporate office, where he is currently a Senior Vice President. Steven has served on ISA’s Certification Board and as President of the UAA; he’s also an active board member for the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust, helping to protect and restore the open lands of the Pennypack Creek Valley adjacent to his home in Huntingdon Valley, PA. Steven has ridden a day in each of the past 5 Tours des Trees, and he and his wife, Lisa, and their children Lauren and John are perennial front-row bidders at the TREE Fund’s annual Raise Your Hand for Research auction.
Brent Gardner is President of Lawn and Garden Media Solutions of St. Petersburg, Florida. Brent has contributed his expertise in fundraising, marketing/PR and media to the TREE Fund, ISA and TCIA on multiple occasions; his video of the 2010 STIHL Tour des Trees anchors the homepage at www.stihltourdestrees.org. A former lawn and landscape professional and art gallery owner and a self-taught multimedia expert, Brent’s background also includes graphic design, business management and fundraising. A self-proclaimed “creative type with a green industry background”, he promises to bring a fresh perspective and valuable expertise to the TREE Fund’s marketing strategies. Brent lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Kimberly, and their 3 year old son Gavin.
Edward Macie is a nationally recognized Urban Forestry specialist with the USDA Forest Service, and has served since 1990 as the Regional Urban Forester for the Forest Service’s Southern Region. He was a founding board member of ISA’s Arborist Certification Board and has served on numerous boards and councils including TCIA’s ANSI A-300 Tree Care Standards Committee, the National Urban and Community Forestry Council’s Community Future Forum, the editorial board of the Journal of Urban Ecosystems and ISA’s (pre-TREE Fund) Research Trust. He is the founder of the Georgia Urban Forest Council and established the Southern Urban Natural Resources Technical Service Center. He is the author of numerous articles on Urban Forestry, and lectures frequently on the subject around the United States. He brings to the Board strong regional planning and non-profit management skills, as well as extensive experience in arboriculture and urban environmental issues.
ACRT, Inc. President and CEO Mike Weidner brings a wealth of diverse experience to the TREE Fund Board. A second-generation nurseryman and arborist, Mike spent 15 years with The Davey Tree Expert Company working in nursery operations, landscape design, arboriculture and PR and marketing before moving on to ACRT in 1998. He has been instrumental in ACRT’s evolution from a small, privately-held company to an independently owned provider of utility vegetation management consulting and arborist training with $33 million in sales in 2009. He was named president of ACRT in 2000, and has served as its CEO since 2005. Mike lives in Akron, OH with his wife, Cindy, and their 4 children.
TREE Fund Executive Director Janet Bornancin welcomed the new trustees on behalf of the Board and TREE Fund staff, and expressed deep appreciation for the ‘time, talent and treasure’ contributed by retiring Trustees David McMaster, Ward Peterson, Ruth Stein and Kristin Wild who recently completed their terms on the TREE Fund Board.