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PLANET Committees
 

The PLANET Committee structure serves a wide variety of needs for the association. Committees provide the opportunity for general membership to be involved in association projects. Committees and chairpersons are listed below.





If you are interested in joining a committee, please download this form and fax it to the PLANET office at (703) 736-9668.

 

Accreditation Committee

Chair: Phil Allen, Ph.D.
Committee Staff Manager: Anna Demoret
The mission of the Accreditation Committee is to advance the professional and personal growth of PLANET members by establishing outcome-focused educational standards for institutions of higher learning that will bring value to the industry. The implementation of these standards will aid students as they become knowledgeable about the science, art, practice and business of the landscape industry. Member involvement in the committee is encouraged to recruit more schools into the program and to support the faculty of accredited schools in any way needed.
 

Awards Committee

Chair: Bruce Allentuck
Co-chair: Bill Horn, CLP, CLT
Committee Staff Manager: Rachael James
The Awards Committee manages seven member awards programs: Environmental Improvement Awards, Green Industry Contribution Award, Community Service Recognition Program, Association Partner and Association of the Year Awards, PLANET Promise Awards and the Lifetime Leadership Award. The committee supports the various awards programs by continuously working to improve each program, assists with the judging process, and encourages other members to submit entries.
 

Crystal Ball Committee

Chair: Jim McCutcheon, CLP
Co-chairs: Steve Pattie, CCLP , Kurt Kluznik, CCLP
Committee Staff Manager: Kathy Wemhoff
Each year, the Crystal Ball Committee meets to discuss a topic of importance to the green industry and develop the annual Crystal Ball Report.
 

Education Committee

Chair: Jack McClary
Committee Staff Manager: Joan Haller
PLANET’s Education Committee coordinates its educational events and other educational offerings, such as the distance-learning program. In addition, the committee develops “SuccesScapes” and “InfoScapes” educational articles, which are available on PLANET's website.
 

Executive Forum Committee

Chair: Glenn Jacobsen, CLP
Committee Staff Manager: Joan Haller
The Executive Forum Committee spearheads the development of the educational program for PLANET’s Executive Forum event held each February.
 

Finance Committee

Chair: Norman Goldenberg
Committee Staff Manager: Sabeena Hickman, CAE, CMP
(By appointment only.)
 

Governance Committee

Chair: Jennifer Lemcke
Committee Staff Manager: Sabeena Hickman, CAE, CMP
(By appointment only.)
 

Government Affairs Committee

Chair: Paul McDonough
Committee Staff Manager: Tom Delaney
The Government Affairs Committee addresses activity at the federal, state, and local levels of government to ensure the laws and regulations by which landscape and lawn care professionals must abide are reasonable and responsible and do not unduly burden PLANET member companies. Primary issues that the committee addresses include pesticides, fertilizers, water, and immigration.

 

Green Industry Conference Committee

Chair: Bob Grover, CLP, CLT
Co-chair: Jack McClary
Committee Staff Manager: Joan Haller
This committee plans all aspects of the educational program for PLANET’s annual Green Industry Conference held each October.
 

Industry Recruiting Committee

Chair: Brett Lemcke
Committee Staff Manager: Anna Demoret
This committee’s mission is to provide members with new ideas for recruiting and to change the current perception about careers in the green industry.  The committee strives to send a positive message about the many viable career paths within the industry to students of all ages. The committee works with FFA in an effort to target high school and college students who are already interested in the agriculture umbrella, under which falls the green industry. The committee also manages the organization’s student communications.
 

International Certification Council (ICC)

Chair: Joel Hafner, CLP, CLT
Committee Staff Manager:  James H. Johnson
The vision statement for PLANET’s certification programs is, “Driven by market demand, every professional landscape firm aspires to have PLNAET-certified employees on staff.” The International Certification Council (ICC) is the group that seeks to make its vision a reality by establishing certification programs, administering exams, and enforcing ethical compliance of all certification programs on behalf of PLANET.  There are eight members who serve three-year terms. 
 

Legislative Day on the Hill Committee

Chair: John Buechner
Committee Staff Manager: Tom Delaney
Legislative Day on the Hill takes place in Washington, D.C., each July and provides green industry professionals with an opportunity to unite and take a stand on Capitol Hill by discussing vital industry issues with legislators. The Legislative Day on the Hill Committee oversees the planning of this event.

 

Membership Committee

Chair: Maurice Dowell, CLP
Co-chair: TBD
Committee Staff Manager: James Johnson
PLANET’s Membership Committee assesses member needs and opinions, develops member services and benefits, critiques new programs and services, and develops ways to recruit new members and retain existing members.
 

PLANET Academic Excellence Foundation (PLANET AEF)

Chair: J.  Landon Reeve IV, CCLP
Committee Staff Manager:  Sabeena Hickman, CAE, CMP
The PLANET Academic Excellence Foundation (PLANET AEF) strives to fulfill its vision to be recognized as the leading educational foundation in the green industry. Since its inception, the PLANET AEF, formerly the ALCA Educational Foundation, has funded educational excellence by awarding scholarships to students of the green industry. Committed to the advancement of green industry services, the Foundation raised more than $1 million during the initial launch year through the generous support of individual landscape contractors, industry suppliers, and from the students themselves.
 

Public Relations Committee

Chair:  Richard Heller, CLP, CLT
Committee Staff Manager:  Sabeena Hickman, CAE, CMP
The public relations committee’s goal is to advance marketplace recognition for PLANET through brand identity, creative messaging strategy, and media relations. The committee supports all aspects of the organization on their communications efforts, helping to create heightened awareness of its product and service offerings.
 

Renewal & Remembrance Committee

Chair: Tom Shotzbarger, CLP, CLT, COLP, CTP-CSL
Committee Staff Manager: Tom Delaney, Betsy Demoret
The day before the Legislative Day on the Hill visits to Capitol Hill, attendees volunteer their skills and/or equipment for the “Renewal & Remembrance” project, a national community service effort to beautify Arlington National Cemetery and Historic Congressional Cemetery. The Renewal & Remembrance Committee is involved in organizing this event.

 

Safety and Risk Management Committee

Chair: Laurie Erdman
Committee Staff Manager: Sabeena Hickman, CAE, CMP
PLANET’s Safety and Risk Management committee is dedicated to preventing injury, reducing incidents, minimizing time loss, minimizing risk, reducing claims cost, creating a safe work environment, taking safety excellence to the next level, and achieving loss ratio of 55 percent. These goals are being achieved by fostering a new way of thinking about safety, increasing “everyday” safety awareness, creating new and revising existing safety publications, sharing best safety practices, providing proven safety incentive models, looking outside the green industry for new ideas, hiring a safety specialist, recognizing safety achievement through PLANET’s Safety Recognition Awards Program, and working closely with all PLANET committees.
 

State Association Executives Committee

Chair:  Diane Andrews
Committee Staff Manager:  Sabeena Hickman, CAE, CMP
The State Association Executive committee was established to address industry-wide issues by working with state and regional associations to gather and share information. 
 

Student Career Days Committee

Chair: Jennifer Buck
Co-Chair: Brett Lemcke
Committee Staff Manager: Anna Demoret
PLANET’s Student Career Days Committee manages this annual event. The committee works closely with the host college faculty representatives in overseeing the success of the program.
 

Supplier Committee

Chair:  John Marchionda
Committee Staff Manager:  Dina Wiley
The Supplier Subcommittee supports the strategic direction set by the Board of Directors to deliver PLANET’s promise to expand PLANET’s position as the partner of choice by recruiting new members, especially in the Green Industry Service Provider Category, and creating new business and partnership opportunities.