Get to know the Utility Arborist Association’s Mark Kimbrough. Not only is he Vice President, Safety & Training at The Townsend Corporation, Kimbrough also serves as co-chair on the UAA Safety Committee.
Based on your family history, you can say the utility arborist industry is in your blood.
I’ve been in the industry all of my life. My dad was a ground person for the Townsend Corporation in 1962 – the year I was born – and came up through the ranks to executive leadership in the 1970s. He retired in 1994 as executive vice-president following 38 years, and then continued to support the corporation for another ten years as a consulting trainer. I knew the founders of the company well. They have even been to our house for dinner when dad was still active.
Back in the 1970s, you didn’t have to be 18 to work in the industry. Initially, my dad helped me find some private work, but when I got my driver’s license, he put me on a spray crew in northern Michigan and I traveled during the summers. That’s when I started following in my dad’s footsteps.
I joined Townsend in a leadership capacity in 1998. As I began to focus more on safety initiatives in the industry, the late Will Nutter extended a personal invitation to join the UAA Safety Committee and here I am. I respected Will. He is one person I mentor my career path after.
There was one event that happened while you were working for Townsend early on that changed your perspective about safety.
In 1998, we had an employee fatality and I was asked to investigate. I remember walking into the funeral home. I looked at the casket and saw two kids with a mom who was pregnant and three balloons with the words, “We’ll miss you, Daddy.” That dad and husband was 33 years old. Back then, the company’s OSHA recordable rate was double digits. That was the day I said we needed to drastically change what we were doing in our company and industry. I put together a presentation titled, “We’ll miss you, Daddy,” and started presenting it around our company, even though I was not directly involved in safety at the time. Townsend then directed me to be 100%-focused on safety in 2010.
As we mark National Safety Month in June, what are the safety initiatives offered by the UAA that benefit members?
One of the best the UAA offers members is the Safety Summits. These events give us the opportunity to involve field personnel. We make sure the majority of the personnel attending are field crews who share their ideas and help them take ownership of best practices. On the heels of that are the Newsline, PSAs, webinars, and quizzes – all outstanding best practices documents from the UAA.
We need to continually work with other industry associations. In addition to being co-chair of the UAA Safety Committee, I also chair the ISA Collaboration Committee to better the safety culture. Hostile work environments are an ever-growing area of concern in our industry. Seems like every year we have more and more situations of physical altercations. Look to the UAA Fact Sheets for guidance on that topic and more.
How have UAA Safety Summits evolved in recent years?
We try to target 100 people to attend and it’s a perfect size audience. The safety summit is designed for people to break into five workgroups. More than 20 professionals in each group are difficult to manage. Because of Covid, we shifted from the previous hotel setting to outdoor summits, which is where people are working every day. They feel at home and more engaged outdoors. That’s been a big advancement for these events.
UAA Safety Summits didn’t exist until Will Nutter came up with this concept. We shoot for three to four summits annually. This year, there are only two because of Trees & Utilities and the ROW Symposium happening this fall.
Do you need more volunteers to serve on the Safety Committee and donate their time?
Yes. Enhance your involvement in safety and your company. There are so many avenues out there. Do it for the right reason to spread the safety culture. I’m glad that Will gave me the nod to join the safety committee. That was a springboard to get me more involved in the UAA. I invited someone last week and I think they will be joining soon.
Engage in the UAA or other aspects of our industry. We have to forward utility arboriculture as a skilled industry versus tree trimmers.
Cindy is the Senior Director, Vegetation Management Services and she manages departments responsible for maintaining vegetation in REC’s rights-of-way with the goal of reducing exposure of the electric grid to tree caused outages while encouraging habitat and species diversity. Cindy also has a consulting business, EcoAcumen, LLC that focuses on residential, commercial and government clients.
Kimberly Laing has had an exciting career in the energy industry, gaining valuable experience in various areas for almost 20 years. During her career, she has worked with numerous customers worldwide in a diverse cross-disciplined technical environment. She has extensive experience working with utilities, asset owners, equipment manufacturers, and consultants to facilitate transmission and distribution projects. Kimberly is particularly passionate about Utility Vegetation Management and its vital role in delivering safe and reliable power.
Josh Beaver is currently senior vice president of Eocene Environmental Group, a utility vegetation management (UVM) consulting and operations firm. Josh has more than two decades of experience within the UVM industry. He is currently responsible for relationship management and oversight of long-term UVM contracts throughout the United States and Canada. He considers customer and community communication to be vital aspects of his role, and he has a proven record of success working with utilities.
Sam joins the UAA crew with over a decade of non-profit experience behind her. As our Partnership Coordinator, her focused efforts on building relationships with diverse funders will include crafting proposals, cultivating connections, and cohesively earning dedicated sponsors to support the sustainability of UAA substantially and empowering our programs. Well equipped with professional skills which include program development, public speaking, proposal writing, donor relations, working with diverse stakeholders, coalition building, and public-facing service. Sam’s educational background includes a BS in Animal Ecology with a minor in Animal Science, and a MA in Philanthropy and Non-profit Development.
Sara Dreiser is a Senior Program Manager with ComEd. She works with a team to oversee ComEd’s routine cycle maintenance and ComEd’s interruption investigation programs. She has been working in the Vegetation Management industry for close to 15 years.
Matt Goff is a Transmission Vegetation Manager at Georgia Power Company. He lives in Brookhaven, GA with his wife, two daughters, and the family’s two dogs Sam, and Payton. For leisure, he enjoys sports with his family, bird hunting, and salt-water fishing.Matt holds a BSFR from the University of Georgia in Forest Resource Management and he graduated in 1997. He has worked in the vegetation management industry for 26 years. His work experience includes six years as a procurement forester for a forest products manufacturer, and 20 years in the utility vegetation management industry with Georgia Power.
Brandon graduated from Minnesota State University–Mankato with a B.S. in Geography. Brandon has been with Rainbow Tree Company since 2009 and has gained experience in several roles, including Business Developer for our utility products division, GIS Tree Inventory Analyst, and Technical Arborist. Brandon has been the Director of VM Services, the fastest growing division inRainbow Tree Company, since 2012.
A winner of the David H Nabi Award for dedication and service, Dr. Robert Vanderhoof earned his Ph.D. from the College of Forest Resources at Mississippi State University in 1995. A veteran natural resource manager, Robert spent 15 years as Florida’s Deer Management Section Chief during which time he coordinated range management activities across Florida’s seven-million-acre wildlife management area system.
Amanda Opp, Certified Utility Vegetation Management Professional Flathead Electric Cooperative, Integrated Services Manager, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, Course Facilitator
Jim Neeser is a business developer for the Davey Resource Group, a division of the Davey Tree Expert Company. Jim primarily works with utility companies to provide innovative and customized solutions. Jim earned his AA from Vermillion Community College in 1997 and his BS in Forestry with an emphasis on Hydrology and Soils from the University of Minnesota in 2000. Jim is an ISA Certified Arborist with the Utility Specialist endorsement. Jim has been involved in the UAA training committee for nearly a decade as a past chairman and is currently the treasurer and Champion of the finance committee. Jim spent his first 7 years in the industry as a field arborist in the commercial and utility markets. The last 10 years, Jim has been working with utility companies to enhance their Integrated Vegetation Management programs. Jim’s other interests include spending time with his family, sports, hiking, fishing and coin collecting. Jim is also active with the Boy Scouts of America as an Eagle Scout. Jim lives in Forest Lake, MN with his wife and 2 children.
Adam’s experience includes leading business development strategies for a utility vegetation management consulting firm, vegetation management field operations at two major investor-owned utilities in the southeastern US, project management at a variety of utilities in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern regions, and vegetation management program development and assessments across the country. His utility arboricultural experience provides a broad understanding of the many different methods used to create a successful utility right-of-way, vegetation management program, including remote sensing, data analytics, optimization, and the utilization of third-party consulting foresters for planning and auditing duties.
Craig works for Pacific Gas and Electric as a Principal Program Manager in Land Management. His career spans 30 years in the utility industry serving numerous roles. He is an ISA Certified Arborist, Utility Specialist, and hold his TRAQ and is a TCIA Certified TreeCare Safety Professional. Craig has been engaged and involved in the UAA for many years, starting back in 2008. He then wanted more so he ran for UAA President and was elected in 2014. Today, Craig looks back over his 30-year career and wouldn’t change a thing, he’s made life-long friends and considers many as mentors. He also claims he would not be where is in his career if it weren’t for these people, and pledges to pay it forward to support others in their success.
Erin Creekmur has been in the UVM industry for over 20 years. After graduating with a Bachelors in Botany from Northern Arizona University she relocated to Northern California to start her professional career. Starting as a consulting utility pre-inspector with Western ECI she quickly moving up to the ranks to Supervisor under the tutelage of folks like Nelson Money. In 2004, Erin joined PG&E as a Quality Assurance Auditor for the VM program. Eventually becoming the Program Manager for the North Coast Division, helping stand up the beginnings of CEMA as the Emergency Drought Response Initiative Lead for the Enhanced Inspection & Mitigation Program, targeting off-cycle hazard trees across the system. In 2015, Erin moved back to her home state of Arizona and took the role of Division Supervisor with Arizona Public Service, managing both transmission and distribution UVM programs out of the Flagstaff area. As part of her role with APS Forestry Fire and Resource Management Department, Erin had responsibility for creating a Hazard Tree Mitigation program. maintaining APS’s ROW Stewardship Accreditation, FERC reporting, and the Transmission Lidar program. In 2021, Erin took a shift in her career and is now Supervising the Customer Construction and Design team for APS, expanding her overall understanding of the Utility industry. Erin continues to maintain her ISA Utility Specialist Certification and TRAQ. She has also completed certifications in both Six Sigma and Lean Sigma Green Belt through accredited universities. In addition to her current service on the UAA Board of Directors, Erin spent the last 6 years as an officer with the Arboretum at Flagstaff Board of Directors. In her free time, you can find Erin in the woods taking pictures of native plants and beautiful western landscapes.
Fallon is a Utility Arborist and Executive Director of the Utility Arborist Association. Prior to his current role he was responsible for leading vegetation management programs across several upper Midwest states on behalf of a large investor-owned utility. He’s also been an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he facilitated the 
Renée is our Member Services Manager. She is available to UAA members for questions on committee assignments, educational opportunities, scholarships, CEU questions, and any other assistance.
Diona has been with the Utility Arborist Association (UAA) since December 2015 and has worked in various capacities within the organization.