Meet the team behind The Grow Group – a combination of active landscape professionals and industry experts who bring real-world experience to everything we do.
Our approach is simple: we only teach what we know works, whether that's from running successful landscaping companies or from years of specialized expertise in our fields.
Our Talented Team
Marty Grunder is founder and CEO of The Grow Group and of Grunder Landscaping Co., one of the most successful landscaping companies in the Midwest.
An unusual combination of full-time landscape professional and leading green-industry coach, Marty is uniquely positioned to deliver real-world, real-time guidance to Grow Group clients. His landscaping company has earned more than 50 local and national design awards and is a two-time winner of the Better Business Bureau’s Eclipse Integrity Award. Marty has himself been named entrepreneur of the year by both Ernst & Young and the US Small Business Administration and a Leader in Diversity by the Dayton Business Journal. The author of The 9 Super Simple Steps to Entrepreneurial Success, he has coached tens of hundreds of landscaping professionals and companies across the US and Canada and delivered more than 550 talks, motivating audiences of all sizes and shapes—from a small gathering of 20 to a stadium of 9,000—to achieve success. He is a columnist for Landscape Management and is a member of the board of Park National Bank of Southwest Ohio. A graduate of the University of Dayton School of Business, Marty is based in Dayton, Ohio.
Last Best Business Book Read: The Culture Code, by Daniel Coyle.
Contact: grow@growgroupinc.com
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Vince Torchia is vice president of The Grow Group, where he drives strategy, oversees day-to-day operations, and provides executive coaching to clients. A graduate of the University of Dayton’s School of Business, Vince travels the country, ensuring our programs consistently deliver results, working with our peer group members, and demonstrating how teams can leverage their strengths to succeed. He is also a member of the leadership team at Grunder Landscaping Co. as director of strategy, and is involved in their strategic planning. He is based in Boston, MA.
Secret to Time Management: “Time-block your calendar according to your priorities. You have to spend time on the things that are most important if you want to see results.”
Contact: vince@growgroupinc.com
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Emily Lindley is The Grow Group’s content and events manager, overseeing our external communications, managing the logistics of our events, developing programming to answer our clients' most frequently asked questions, and sharing our story with the green industry. She also serves as marketing manager for Grunder Landscaping Co. Previously she worked in marketing and communications at a major healthcare company and was named the 2018 Young Professional of the Year by the Dayton Area Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. A cum laude graduate of Miami University with a BS in business, Emily is based in Cincinnati, OH.
Marketing Mantra: “Always think from the perspective of your customer: what keywords are they searching for? What pain points are you solving? Create content that speaks to them using the language they're already using themselves.”
Contact: emily@growgroupinc.com
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James Cali is a Grow Group executive coach, where he draws on his more than 25 years of executive leadership experience within the professional services industry to help business owners develop and execute strategy. Having helped lead a landscape firm from $3M to more than $28M in annual revenue, he is a master tactician whose focus on consistent planning, accountability, and finance drives green-industry companies forward. In addition to his work with The Grow Group, he co-leads McFarlin Stanford, a professional bookkeeping and recruiting firm, and is former chairman of NALP’s government affairs committee. A graduate of the University of New Orleans with an MBA from Southern Methodist University, Jim is based in Dallas, Texas.
First Step to Accountability: “Lead by example—as goes the leader, so goes the firm. Which translates to: Do what you say you’re going to do and hold your team accountable to do the same. As an owner or CEO, that’s your job!”
Contact: james@growgroupinc.com
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Jason New is a Grow Group executive coach, where he helps landscaping companies around the country build high-performing teams focused on accountability, improving services during growth, and standardizing processes. With more than 15 years’ hands-on experience in green-industry operations, Jason dives head-first into clients’ processes, diagnosing pain points and working with company leaders to create an effective plan for change, train their teams to adopt it, and ensure successful and consistent execution. In addition to his work with The Grow Group, he co-leads McFarlin Stanford, a professional bookkeeping and recruiting firm, and is former chairman of NALP’s education committee. A graduate of Tartleton State University, Jason is based in Dallas, Texas.
Quality High-Performing Teams Share: “To a tee, they recognize there’s always room for improvement. They get the whole team on board, set big goals, realign expectations, create realistic timelines for implementation—and make no excuses.”
Contact: jason@growgroupinc.com
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Chris Psencik is a Grow Group executive coach, where he draws on his more than 20 years’ experience in driving business development and closing sales for green-industry companies. He also leads McFarlin Stanford’s work with landscaping companies specializing in design-build and construction, with an emphasis on sales execution. Working closely with owners and their teams, he is uniquely skilled at helping landscaping companies to define and refine their sales strategies and processes to meet—and exceed—their goals. Chris has a BS in horticulture and landscape design from Texas A&M University and is based in Dallas, Texas.
The Key to Success in Sales: “The ability to relate to the customer. Nine out of ten of my calls and conversations didn’t involve sales. I just focused on building the relationship.”
Contact: chris@growgroupinc.com
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Lindsey Perkins keeps The Grow Group firing on all cylinders as our administrative assistant, managing accounts payable and receivable and helping coordinate event programming and logistics. With an accomplished background in office management and enrollment for health-care companies, she is keenly focused on organization and detail. Lindsey is based in Dayton, OH.
The Key to Organization: “Never let your accounts receivable age past 30 days; follow up with those who have past due bills and make it easy for them to do business with you.”
Contact: lindsey@growgroupinc.com
Kennedy Kylander is The Grow Group's content and events specialist, where she oversees SEO strategy and content development, creates educational curriculum, and supports the execution of events. With more than 10 years of content marketing experience, Kennedy has managed a content department at one of the fastest-growing digital marketing agencies in Cincinnati, as well as run her own business, developing compelling strategies that drive results. Currently pursuing an associate degree in sustainable/landscape horticulture from Cincinnati State, she brings proven marketing leadership skills and growing knowledge of the green industry to the team. Kennedy is based in Erlanger, Kentucky.
Strategy Mindset: "In digital marketing, success comes from an intentional blend of data-driven strategy and thoughtful understanding of your customers. Numbers tell you what's working, but empathy tells you why. "
Contact: kennedy@growgroupinc.com
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