Davey Tree Names New Vice President

The Davey Tree Expert Co., headquartered in Kent, has named an Aurora man as the new vice president of Midwest operations for the massive grounds maintenance company.

The company announced Jim Houston will serve as vice president of Midwest operations for both the residential and commercial services division on Tuesday.

Houston, who started with the company's west Cleveland office in 1992, will maintain an office in the corporate headquarters on North Mantua Street just north of . Houston most recently served as operations manager for the company's northeast region and has more than 20 years experience in arboriculture. He is an ISA certified arborist and a graduate of the Davey Institute of Tree Sciences. Houston also is a past member of Davey’s President’s Council.

The employee-owned Davey Company has operations in the U.S. and Canada and employs more than 7,000 people.

Houston's promotion comes as the company works to finalize an agreement that would move the Stow-based Davey Resource Group into the downtown Kent redevelopment project.

The firm has not signed a lease with the project developer, Fairmount Properties, but Davey Tree has signed a letter of intent to move the 60 to 70 employees from Stow to Kent.