The Commercial Landscaper Podcast

Jarrett serves as Chief Operating Officer at Electric Sheep Robotics, where he heads up sales and operations for their autonomous mowing efforts. Before starting the company with his two co-founders, Jarrett led operations and expansion for several early stage startups in Silicon Valley, including Shyp, an on-demand shipping company. Graduating from Lehigh in 2011, with an Industrial Engineering degree, Jarrett started his career in the manufacturing industry, deploying lean manufacturing concepts across manufacturing sites in China, Germany, and the US. This idea of process improvement and standard work has been an ongoing theme of his career, applying an engineering mindset to problem solving in a wide range of business settings. Having grown up around the industry, Jarrett was exposed to the landscaping world early on, starting with Brickman during college and then ultimately joining what is now Brightview in Northern California, as a member of their operations excellence team. He’s always had a strong passion for bringing the world of technology into blue collar work and is eager to be a driving force around bringing the green industry into the 21st century, through embracing new technologies. The opportunity to do this around autonomous technologies has been accelerated recently, following the achievements of the self driving car industry, hence the opportunity he finds himself in with ESR. Outside of his professional life, Jarrett is an avid triathlete, golfer, and skier and calls Marin county home, just north of San Francisco, where he recently bought a home with his wife, Nina and golden retriever, Gunner.

Over the past two decades, Mazeratie's innate curiosity has taken her through a variety of spaces, from tech, travel, marketing and entrepreneurship to her current position working within the multi-family flooring industry where she serves as 'Jill of all Trades' and Director of Operations for OneSource Flooring & Interiors. That unique career trajectory and skill set have enabled her to gather a wealth of knowledge around process improvement, branding, resource optimization, and personnel management, all of which she now applies to aiding OneSource's continued growth in the crowded, Phoenix Metro B2B market while navigating the economic and emotional roadblocks brought on by global pandemic. When she's not tweaking the details of a marketing campaign or testing new software integrations, Mazeratie spends her time working in her garden with her husband and their three pugs.

Shannon Swift is the founder and CEO of Swift HR Solutions, Inc., a provider of strategic, stage-appropriate, and culturally aligned human resources (HR) services and products for early-stage to mid-sized companies. She has spent her entire career in senior human resources, executive management, and business development roles and has achieved a lifetime certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). Her passion and expertise is in facilitating effective organizational growth by working seamlessly with executive teams and boards of directors to ensure that all HR efforts are aligned with corporate values and objectives. She has served in volunteer leadership roles for more than 20 years, including Past President of Lake Washington Human Resources Association (LWHRA) and Past-Chair of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network (NWEN). Currently, she is a Board member of Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) and WTIA-HRBI. Shannon is also a member of Entrepreneur Organization (EO), Past President of EO-Seattle and currently serves as an Area Director on EO’s US West Regional Council. Outside of work, Shannon loves continuously creating her life on Lake Joy with her husband Mike, their daughter Alison, their dog, Pauli-Girl and their cat, Emmy.

Miles Kuperus Jr., owner of Farmside Landscape & Design in Sussex NJ for over 30 years, grew up with a love of nature and the land. Since he was a child, he lived and worked on the property that once housed the family’s dairy farm and where Farmside’s office and shop are now located. His drive for knowledge, for learning all he could about the land and soil, led him to pursue the field of landscaping, so he attended Cook College, Rutgers University, taking courses in Landscape Architecture and Continuing Education seminars. In 1985, while still attending classes, Miles started Kuperus Family Landscaping, which grew to become Farmside Landscape & Design a few years later. Farmside has grown from a small, owner-operated business to what it is today – a full service landscape and design firm with over 300 clients and some 25+ professional landscape employees thanks to the values of what Miles refers to as The Farmside Way: Keep Promises (personal and professional integrity); Exceed Expectations (drive for excellence); and Own the Outcome (accountability that builds trust). His focus on ongoing education and career development for his staff has resulted in a 95% employee retention rate. A Landscape Industry Certified Manager, Miles is very active in the NALP (National Association of Landscape Professionals), an organization that aligns with his commitment to professional excellence within the landscape industry. He has served on the Board of Directors for the NALP and as Board President for the NALP Foundation, which focuses its support on the education and career development of landscape industry professionals. Additionally, Miles has been a member of the NALP Safety Committee, R&R Committee, Accreditation Committee and the Industry Growth Initiative (IGI). He is currently serving on the NALP Professional Development and Standards Advisory Council, is a Member of the Sussex County Economic Development Board, and serves on the Sussex Christian School Finance Committee.  

For over twenty years, Michael Synk has been helping mid-market and small business owners and CEOs sort out the challenges of growth. He’s an expert in strategy (author of Rock & Sand: A Practical Insight to Business Growth), a business coach, and an educator (School of Rock & Sand is his Online School). He's dedicated to bringing owners and entrepreneurs insights and actions that unleash growth from within their organizations. He helps business leaders, both individually and collectively, navigate the obstacles and opportunities that arise when an organization struggles with growth. Speeches, Webinars, Workshops, and Retreats: Strategy is Not What “You” Think? It’s What “Others” Think. It’s not about the Beer: Why do customers buy, stay, and tell others and what you can do about it. Cash Is King: Find more cash in your business right now, in the next 90 days, and in the next year. Leadership 1, 2, 3: Master the Three Giant Steps to Leading Others Successfully Just One Season: Leadership Lessons from my one season coaching track in Southwest Detroit.

David Anderson has been a founder and CEO of numerous companies over the last 25 years. These companies range from a marketing agency to a SaaS-based software company, a publishing company, and several real estate ventures. In these roles, David has had many successes and also his fair share of failures. David has led his organizations through several mergers and acquisitions, growing businesses during excellent economic times, but also making the tough decisions that come during the not-so-excellent economic seasons. He’s done this all while trying to balance being present with a growing family and dealing with the many other curveballs life throws us. David saw leadership at the highest levels while traveling the world working for two United States Presidents, served as a senior staffer on two presidential-appointed commissions and working and for a United States Congressman. He’s served on numerous community-based boards of directors and is currently on the global board of directors of Entrepreneurs Organization (EO). David has been married to his wife Debbie for 23 years and has two sons. In his first book, Leadership is Not a Title, David breaks down leadership, which is sometimes presented as complicated, into simple concepts all can relate to

Jack Becker is a human performance, teamwork, and efficiency professional whose years of expertise inspired him to found Flight Level Solutions, Inc.  Jack has successfully adapted the same peak human performance skills that made him successful flying combat missions in the F/A-18 Hornet, to training companies striving to perform at fighter pilot levels.  He served as a carrier-based F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet fighter pilot, instructor pilot, landing signal officer, quality assurance officer, budget operations officer, and crew resource management instructor.  Jack has over 2,000 hours flying supersonic fighter jets, and brings the same passion and excitement to each keynote speech he delivers.  He is a decorated combat veteran having flown strike missions in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and has graduated from the U.S. Navy Crew Resource Management (CRM) School. As one of the Navy’s most highly decorated Landing Signals Officers (LSO), Jack was instrumental in incorporating using CRM to help pilots quickly improve while landing supersonic fighter jets on aircraft carriers.  He was responsible for over 21,000 mishap free carrier landings. Jack’s unique experience as both and LSO and as the Navy’s top CRM instructor, he saw an opportunity to relay the same skills of Brief-Execute-Debrief-Improve to the American workplace.  From healthcare groups, to manufacturing, construction, and insurance firms, Jack’s dynamic seminars have made a lasting impression.  Flying faster than the speed of sound, a zero-fail mentality is a must!  Jack’s programs teach simply how to reduce human error.  Within all seven regions of GE Power and Water alone, Jack’s program has reduced OSHA recordable mishaps over 60%. Jack earned a BS in Political Science with emphasis on organizational leadership from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Currently he serves part time as an F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet instructor pilot in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Jack brings an unbridled passion for human performance to Flight Level Solutions through consulting, training seminars and keynote addresses. Let Jack’s entertaining and captivating style energize your organization today.

James Higgins is a Partner at Chenmark, a diversified holding company that works with retiring owners and current entrepreneurs to provide liquidity, preserve legacies, and position companies for long term success. To date, Chenmark has completed 21 acquisitions in the property services, pest control, manufacturing, and tourism industries.  Before founding Chenmark, James worked for a few different hedge funds after starting his career at Barclays Capital.  James graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in history.  He lives in Cumberland, Maine with his wife, Trish (also a Chenmark Partner) and their two young children.