Features Profiles
From the Editor: Top 10 Under 40

We’re looking for a few good men and women. Actually, we’re looking for at least 10 of them. And none of them can be over the age of 40.

Turf & Rec is launching its first ever “Top 10 Under 40” promotion for which we will recognize the best of the youthful best among those professionally employed in the Canadian turf and grounds maintenance industry.

These individuals represent the future of our industry and will one day pass the torch along to the next generation of up-and-comers destined to shape the landscaping, lawn care, golf course maintenance, sports turf and sod-producing sectors of the industry.

With this announcement, we are soliciting nominations from across the country so that we have the names and resumes of these bright and talented individuals from whom we will select the top 10 and formally recognize them within these pages in the spring.

We are looking for those who have made significant contributions to the industry before their 40th birthday. Nominees cannot turn 40 before Dec. 31 of this year.

Anyone meeting the proper age requirement and is gainfully employed in the turf industry is eligible. He or she can be a golf course superintendent or an assistant, a landscape contractor, a lawn care business owner, a sports turf manager, a sod producer, an educator or an industry supplier. They don’t necessarily have to be the “boss” at their particular place of employment and may simply be a crackerjack employee who has contributed significantly to his or her company.

These individuals should demonstrate a strong work ethic, show leadership and initiative, actively seek new opportunities for training and education, and participate in industry events.

Coincidentally, this issue of Turf & Rec features the story of a young assistant golf superintendent who conceived an innovative piece of equipment that more effectively deploys and collects turf covers than trying to achieve the same goal by hand. This is a young man who, if someone elects to nominate him, would fit the bill as a promising candidate for our inaugural Top 10 Under 40 campaign.

There are others like him in this industry that make a difference through their professional work. You know who they are. It’s simply a matter now of taking a few minutes and telling us why they are deserving of such recognition. Visit our website at
turfandrec.com to fill out a nomination form.

The timing of this campaign was strategically coordinated to coincide with the industry’s off season when industry leaders are apt to find the time to tell us why a colleague or employee of theirs should be recognized as one of Canada’s top 10 young movers and shakers.

Some possible scenarios that could merit nomination:

• A golf superintendent or his assistant skillfully co-ordinated a significant project on the course that was both environmentally friendly and came in under budget
• A lawn care company foreman conceived an idea that helped save his company a significant amount of money
• A sports turf manager or foreman developed a better line of communication with user groups to better coordinate maintenance practices

These are merely examples of reasons why someone might be worthy of nomination. There are apt to be several other accomplishments made – perhaps things we might not have considered – by outstanding young people in this business that deserve to be shared with the industry at large.

Ideally, within the next few months, my desk will be piled over with nomination forms from which our panel of judges will sift through and render a decision as to who makes the cut among the top 10.

Let’s not neglect these individuals’ accomplishments. They deserve their moment in the spotlight.