Bill Hoke

President, NexGreen in Columbus, Ohio + Frederick, Md.

Education:

-Birmingham Seaholm High School, Birmingham, Mich., Class of 1977
-Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich., Class of 1982

Work experience:

1983: Sales, TruGreen, East Lansing, Mich.
“I always liked working outside. TruGreen seemed like a natural fit from the standpoint of development and career opportunities.”

1984-1986: Branch marketing manager, Jackson, Mich.

1986-1988: City marketing manager, Ann Arbor, Mich.

1988-1992: Branch manager, Columbus, Ohio
“I wanted to learn the operations side more. I relocated down to Columbus, and I’ve been here since.”

1992-2000: Region manager
“When the TruGreen/ChemLawn acquisition came about (in 1992), they were looking for people with both operations and marketing backgrounds.”

2000-2009: Region vice president

2010-2012: North division vice president

2013-present: President, NexGreen
“I left TruGreen with my two partners, Kevin Jardine and Imtiaz Tootla, and we started NexGreen.”

Words of wisdom: “It’s a lot easier to hang on to customers and keep them happy than to have to generate new business all the time.” • “To be innovative, you have to have a variety of perspectives. We have a cross-section of people with different experiences.” • “Empower everybody to make decisions. We check our egos at the door.”

NexGreen: “My brother-in-law came up with the name. We were searching for names that said, culturally, who we wanted to be. Our brand is a hybrid of traditional lawn care and a natural approach.”