Nicholas Sucic is retiring as vice president and controller of Davey Tree Expert Co. Executive officer Thea Sears, currently serving as assistant controller, will replace Sucic, whose retirement is effective Dec. 31. He will remain employed as senior vice president of accounting and finance to assist with the transition until the effective date. “Nick Sucic has served Davey Tree with distinction over the last 15 years and has made valuable contributions to the company, including financial and managerial reporting, designing and implementing internal controls and acquisition activities,” said Karl Warnke, Davey Tree chairman and CEO.

Gothic Landscape in Valencia, Calif., named Darrin Shannon branch manager of its Riverside, Calif., office. Shannon, who joined Gothic in 2001, formerly served as sales manager for the California region and area manager, for which he was honored as Area Manager of the Year in 2004. He also was the recipient of the Associate of the Year award in 2015 from the Builders Industry Association. He holds a bachelor’s in agribusiness/marketing from Cal State San Luis Obispo.

LandCare promoted Michael Couch to branch manager in Orlando, Fla. Couch joined LandCare in February as an account manager. He holds a bachelor’s from the University of Central Florida in business administration.

The company also promoted Brian Simmons to branch manager in Richmond, Va. Simmons joined LandCare in March as an account manager and became a senior production manager in May. He’s been in the landscape industry since 1998 and has worked on irrigation, design/build, maintenance, production management and account management projects on residential and commercial properties.

The North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association (NCNLA) added Kathryn Stansbury as director of business development. Stansbury joins NCNLA after more than 10 years with the North Carolina Home Builders Association, where she served as director of membership services at an association with more than 13,000 members.

NCNLA also retained Stephanie Schaefer as an independent contractor for 2016-2017. She’s previously served as an independent sales contractor for the Texas Nursery & Landscape Association, the Ohio Nursery & Landscape Association and the Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association. Schaefer will assist with the production of Green & Growin’ 17, the association’s trade show.