TCIA Announces New Chair

Founded in 1938, TCIA is a public and professional resource on trees and arboriculture, which also offers an accreditation program that helps consumers find tree care companies that have been inspected and accredited based on: adherence to industry standards for quality and safety; maintenance of trained, professional staff; and dedication to ethics and quality in business practices.
Photo Credit: Tree Care Industry Association

The Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) announces the installation of Benjamin G. Tresselt III as chair of the Board of Directors. Tresselt, president and owner of TCIA-accredited Arborist Enterprises Inc. in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was recently installed at the annual TCIA Winter Management Conference in St. Kitts.

TCIA's Board is elected by the members to set policy and the strategic direction of the association, which provides safety and educational programs, meetings, publications and guidelines for tree care companies.

"Ben is an enthusiastic and active member of the industry and TCIA is thrilled to welcome such a professional and passionate leader as Chair of our Board of Directors," said Mark Garvin, president and CEO of TCIA.

Tresselt has spent most of his adult life working with trees. While he and his wife, Tina, started his company (and joined the National Arborist Association) in 1991, but he began working with trees even earlier. "I started working in the industry during high school for Bartlett," he says. "I started part time doing storm cleanup."

After high school, he attended the Mount Alto campus of Penn State University for forestry. Afterward, he did stints for Bartlett, working for a landscape firm, and as a logger felling trees. That last job drove him back to the tree care industry. Then, with the encouragement of his wife, he went out on his own.

Together, they were successful almost immediately. Tresselt notes that they never lacked work, because they have always been willing to roll up their sleeves and do whatever it takes. Arborist Enterprises has grown to 18 full-time employees today.

Tresselt has been an ISA Certified Arborist for 22 years and in 2005 became one of the first 60 persons to become an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist. He is past president of the Penn-Del Chapter of ISA and the DeMuth Museum and services on the board at the Woodward Hills Cemetery in Lancaster. He is a former board member and is a supporter of the Tree Research Endowment & Education Fund (TREE Fund). He has ridden in the TREE Fund's Tour Des Trees the last four years, including starting it last year when he had to abandon it when he broke his collar bone while riding on the third day of the annual five-day, 500-mile bicycle ride.

Alongside his fellow Board members, Tresselt's platform is to help boost TCIA membership this year. "I will try to get out as much as I possibly can and visit with as many members and potential members as I can throughout the year and throughout the country," he explains.

TCIA also announced two additions to the TCIA Board of Directors: Steven A. Marshall, executive vice president of operations for The Davey Tree Expert Company, and Jeff Wilson, president of sales and marketing and co-owner of Wachtel Tree Science, were installed in February as members of the TCIA Board.

For more information about the TCAI please visit tcia.org.

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