The eighth annual ACE Summit event took place recently in New Orleans, with more than 170 landscape and lawn care professionals, and many of their spouses, in attendance. The event offered attendees more than 30 educational seminars, along with an awards dinner, a VIP tour of the National World War II Museum and a private Mississippi River dinner jazz cruise on the Creole Queen.
The ACE Summit, co-hosted by McFarlin Stanford and The Grow Group, is the one event of the year where all the various peer group members assemble together. A “State of ACE” presentation is held letting the room know how many groups there now are and what the plans are for the future. Currently, there are 19 active peer groups, with two new ones about to start. In all, there are more than 250 members of ACE Peer Groups.
Vince Torchia, vice president of The Grow Group, shared that the collective revenue of the lawn care and landscape companies in ACE Peer Groups totaled over $1.5 billion dollars.
“You plot that against Landscape Management’s LM150 (list of the industry 150 largest companies), and we finally overtook TruGreen for the third spot, collectively, for the ACE Peer Groups program,” Torchia told the room. “That’s a very cool thing for us.”
Marty Grunder, CEO and founder of Grunder Landscaping Co. and The Grow Group, challenged the room
to look ahead to 2025 and be ready for success.
“I ask you a challenging question: How does your team feel about 2025?” Grunder asked the room. “The next couple days together, it’s time to think back and share your vulnerabilities. How are we going to leave here ready to take our businesses to the next level in 2025?”
At the awards dinner, eight companies were recognized with awards. The awards are small full-body cut-outs of the presenter of the award. This year’s awards went to:
ACE of the Year: Jeffrey Johns, Coastal Greenery, Brunswick, Ga.
ACE Facility of the Year (The Tommy Cole award): Jason Cromley, Hidden Creek Landscaping, Columbus, Ohio
Most Improved ACE (The Marty Grunder award): Dan Arnsperger, Blue Ribbon Outdoor, Fayetteville, Ark.
Most Innovative ACE (The Chris Psencik award): Bret and Robyn Schmitz, High Prairie Outdoor, Kansas City, Kan.
Most Profitable ACE (The Jason New award): Cory Moore, Moore Pest Control, Hughes Springs, Texas
Best ACE Team (The Jim Cali award): James Burt, Landscapes East, Syracuse, N.Y.
ACE Community Impact Award (The Michael Bosco award): Matt Davis, College Fund Landscaping, Plano, Texas
Best ACE Communicator (The Vince Torchia award): Jarod Hynson, Earth, Turf, and Wood, Lancaster, Pa.
Some of the classes offered to attendees included “Tales from the Dark Side: Lessons from those who have lost key team members,” “Finding the funny in winning: How to lead with confidence and swagger” and “Am I seated in an exit row — What to know before you decide to potentially sell your company.”
Dan Huber, CEO of Alan Horticulture in Warrenville, Ill., pointed to the class for CEOs and owners only, “ACE by the numbers: Where do you stand?” led by Liz Helton, CFO, McFarlin Stanford, Steve Allie, vice president, McFarlin Stanford and recent hire Ian Hanemann, financial analyst, McFarlin Stanford, as the most important seminar for him and his business.
“The financial metrics breakout is a very important driver to all the peers’ success,” Huber told LM. “ACE Summit 2024 was an invaluable experience to be amongst all our fellow peer groups.”
In other ACE Peer Group news, it was announced that the annual meeting is being rebranded to now be called ACE Connect. The first ACE Connect event will take place Nov. 12-14, 2025, in Park City, Utah, at the Montage Hotel and Resort.
<p>The post 2024 ACE Peer Groups Summit honors members with awards first appeared on Landscape Management.</p>