Interview with Dan Pennington – General Manager
Dan Pennington, General Manager at Connick Tree Care, recently gave an interview to PRO ARB Magazine, a publication that is dedicated to highlighting the professionalism of companies in the arboriculture industry.
PRO ARB interview with Dan Pennington
“I’ve worked for Connick Tree Care for nearly 18 years, during that time, we’ve witnessed significant growth that has led us to establish three depots in the South East. Our operational scope now extends across London and the southeast, with works being undertaken for commercial, Local Authority and private and domestic clients.
My introduction into tree work occurred during the aftermath of the 1987 hurricane, which enabled me to run my own small business for a number of years. After a period serving in the British Army, I returned back to the arboricultural and forestry industry, attending both Plumpton College and Capel Manor.
My past experience as a climbing arborist has underpinned my transition into a managerial role and this is the career path that we now promote for our arborists at Connick Tree Care. All of our current management team having undertaken the role of an arborist team leader at CTC before making the step up to the management team.
While the arboricultural sector is becoming more professional generally, we still contend with a market focused on cost rather than appreciating the value of engaging professional arborists, an issue that demands attention. Overall, its encouraging to see more companies gaining Approved Contractor status with the Arboricultural Association, but the industry as a whole is, still short of people who want to pursue a career in arb.
The industry is even more important now in these times of environmental awareness and as a company, we do all we can to ensure that we reduce our impact on the environment through our work operations. As an example, we are investing heavily in electric vehicles (EV) for our managers and purchasing more cordless battery tools for our arborists. We also try to engage local communities through tree planting schemes and are developing an aftercare app in support of this.
In January of this year, Connick Tree Care became an Employee Owned Trust (EOT). The founder, Mike Connick, has now handed over the business to the employees, who now feel a real sense of ownership. As well as this, they can have a direct say in the everyday running of the company via the elected employee council and they also have the added benefit of a profit share bonus scheme. For us, becoming an EOT has bought a new cohesion to the firm and sets us apart from others, we’re proud of that.”
