TALKING WITH TITANS Talking with Titans: Kurt Kane By Jill Odom


KURT KANE IS THE PRESIDENT AND CEO OF TRUGREEN, A NATIONAL lawn care company headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. Kane stepped into this role in 2023 with more than 20 years of experience driving increased employee engagement and customer satisfaction. Prior to joining TruGreen, he served as president, U.S., and Chief Commercial Officer at The Wendy’s Company where he was responsible for record sales and profit growth while also improving the customer and crew member experience. Kane also served as an air defense artillery officer in the US. A m earned a Bachelor of Science from the United States and received an MBA fr


the U..S. Arrmy,, earned a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy, and r


ed an MBA from The Univ WHAT’S BEEN OUR MAIN VE LEARNED ABOUT The University of exas at Ay off Texas at Austin.


WHAT’S BEEN YOUR MAIN TAKEAWAY YOU’VE LEARNED


T THE LAWN CARE INDUSTR


WNCARE INDUSTRY SO FA


My main main


takeaway about the lawn ca e


s that it is filled with passionat and harand hard-


wo ing peopleworking people who really want


who really want to do theto do the


right right


the lawn carre industry so far iis that it is filled with passionate


y about y so far


SO FAR AND WHAT CHANGES WOULD OU LIKE TO


CHANGES WOULD YOU LIKE SEE?


things for their custom


things for their customers. I love the positive spirit and the e people bring every day


e spirit and the energy that


people bring ev y day in our company and consider myselff fo


and consider myself f rtunate to be a part of it. Apart off it. As for change to help more people to ing professionals t


or changes, I would love


to help more people t realize that hiring professionals to handle their lawn care really is the best w


care really is the best way to go. If we do our job right, I’m co accomplish this


HOWHAS YOUR BACK ING WITH WELL-KNOW


ING WITH WELL-KNOWN BRANDS, LIKE WENDY’S, PIZZA Y,


ROLE WITH TRUGREEN? All of


e people-


do our job right, I’m confident we can accomplish this.


HAS OUR BACKGROUND WORK- Y’S, PIZZA HUT AND FRITO


LAY, HELPED YOU INYOU IN OUR CURRENT ROLEWITH TRUGREE All of the companies I haf the companies I are people-driven and focused – and that hol TruGreen.


focused – and that holds true here at TruGreen.We are cons about our custom


associates in the field -- how to imprto improve


ri en and very customer- e constantly thinking


about our customers as well as our associates in t


e the service and ve worked for


the experience for both. People are at the heart of all great service industry companies, and that lesson has been taught to me time and time again everywhere I have worked. Personally, I really value looking at the company as a full picture and under- standing the contribution each function- al area offers to the company’s success and finding the common ground among them. While I spent a lot of time in my career in marketing, I quickly realized that for any initiative to work, it needed the full support and engagement of ev- ery function. Otherwise, it was not going to make it. So that’s why I am passionate about breaking down functional silos and building teams with a common goal in mind.


LEADING SUCH A LARGE ORGANIZA- TION, HOW DO YOU ENSURE YOUR CULTURE REMAINS STRONG AND YOUR PEOPLE FEEL VALUED? This is one of my favorite topics. Culture is so important to how we work as an organization. Our culture operates as One Team Together. This mindset that we all work together to achieve our goals is what will help us win. Our entire leadership team recogniz- es and values all our associates, with a special emphasis on the people who


What’ cha use mo int


sa o


Wha s a strongly held belief you’ve changed your mind on over the years? I used to believe that driving sales was the most important lifeblood of a company interested in growth. But I now believe that thithis is only part of the bigger picture. The reareality is that driving customer retention at a very high level, coupled with a powerful sales engine, is really where the magic for our business is at.


30 The Edge //March/April 2025


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