GIC Provides an Industry Degree

Andy Doesburg, Landscape Industry Certified, Rick Doesburg, Landscape Industry Certified, Thornton Landscape, Inc.

Andy Doesburg attended his first GIC in 1999.  In his words, “the event was overwhelming.”  He was fresh out of college and new to the industry. Fifteen years later, as president of Thornton Landscape in Maineville, OH, he still regularly attends GIC with his father and former PLANET president Rick Doesburg, Landscape Industry Certified.

“I can stay categorically, and my dad would agree, that nearly every aspect of our operation carries an element of something we’ve learned at GIC or attending other PLANET events. In fact, we were just going over some GIC files we’ve referenced over the years, finally discarding the oldest ones.

“What we look for when we go to GIC depends on our mindset and the challenges we may be facing.  In 2008, for example, we had just purchased a maintenance operation to supplement our design/build service offering.  We walked the trade show that year with specific goals, to look at the maintenance equipment and talk with the suppliers.” As he pointed out, there’s no other place in the country where people can see so much equipment and actually try it out at an outside demonstration area. Because of their design/build background, they also enjoy walking the hardscaping portion of the trade show, one that Hardscaping North America co-locates with GIE+EXPO.

Doesburg graduated from Coastal Carolina with a degree in sports management, something rarely put to good use in the family business, he admitted. “By the time I graduated, I wanted to work in the industry with my father.  I knew the business after working there while growing up and going to school.  But I didn’t know the industry.”

That education came from going to GIC and being a PLANET member.  “I look forward to the non- event times now as much as I do the seminars and walking the trade show,” said Doesburg. “I’ve met so many people over the years who’ve shared their industry experiences with me. I may see them only once a year, at GIC, but they are like friends and family to me.”

He mentioned PLANET members like Kelly Dowell and her father Maurice from DOWCO whose company and operation he has followed for years. Being on GIC panel discussions like ones with former PLANET president Jason Cupp and Paul Fields, the president of Lambert Landscape, has further fostered his understanding of the industry. He later leveraged his 

PLANET experience while president of the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association (ONLA).

“Being involved with the industry is so important in many ways,” Doesburg emphasized. “Your company reaps dividends when you share experiences with other successful landscape contractors whereas volunteering on committees and participating in leadership help develop important leadership skills.  You learn so much from brilliant minds.”