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OPE + LANDSCAPE STAFF Sr. Vice President / Sales David Voll Managing Editor Brian Ethridge Information Services Manager Marina Velez Art Director Lindsay Zigan

BRIAN ETHRIDGE

And now’ s your chance to show them a little love.

Nominations for the 2027 OPE + Landscape Under 40 Awards are now open, giving you an opportunity to shine a light on the people who are making a difference. If someone came to mind while reading this, now is the time to get them the recognition they deserve.

There’ s a lot of work happening behind the scenes in this industry that doesn’ t always get noticed.

A service technician figures out a way to make a difficult repair more efficient. A salesperson takes the time to build a relationship with a customer instead of simply chasing the next sale. Someone in a dealership finds a way to improve a process that everyone had gotten used to. A manufacturer employee spends months working through the details of a new product that eventually makes someone’ s job easier.

None of those things necessarily make headlines, but they matter.

And sometimes, the people doing that work deserve a little more attention.

That’ s the idea behind the OPE + Landscape Under 40 Awards.

The awards recognize professionals under the age of 40 who are making a meaningful contribution to the outdoor power equipment industry. They can come from anywhere in the industry— dealerships, manufacturing, technology, service, sales, marketing and more.

The common thread isn’ t a particular job title or even a particular accomplishment— it’ s the impact they’ re having.

That can be difficult to measure; there’ s no formula that tells us exactly what makes someone an industry leader. A person might have increased sales by a certain

amount or developed a new technology, but leadership can also show up in less measurable ways.

It can be the employee who is always willing to help a coworker. The manager who takes the time to develop people. The salesperson who has earned the trust of customers. The person who sees a problem and refuses to accept that there isn’ t a better solution.

Those contributions can be easy to overlook, especially when they happen one day at a time, but you know who these people are.

You know who comes up with the ideas. You know who customers trust. You know who is willing to stay late to get something done, who takes on responsibilities nobody asked them to take on and who seems to make the people around them better.

Maybe they’ re already in a leadership position; maybe they’ re not. Maybe they’ ve already been in the industry for 10 years; maybe they’ ve only been here for one. What matters is what they’ re contributing and the example they’ re setting.

To nominate someone, head over to ope-plus. com and navigate to the Under 40 Awards page. If you have any questions, email me at bethridge @ epgacceleration. com.

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