President’s Message

It is an honor and privilege to have been elected President by the WGIF Board of directors and I’d like to express my gratitude and appreciation for their support and commitment to the Green industry. I will do my best to continue the quality leadership that you all have seen from past presidents.

My wife Gina and I own and operate Halter Sod Farms in Union Grove, Wisconsin. We have a wonderful daughter who is a nurse at Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee, and is married to our terrific son-in-law Chris, who’s in law enforcement. They have blessed us with our first grandson named Parker and a second grandchild is on the way!

As a sod producer, I recently served as President of the Wisconsin Sod Producers Association and currently am serving my 21st year on the local school board. Through life experiences, and having a mother and father who inspired me with their strong morals and values, I make every effort to apply these lessons and positive qualities in my own life and decision-making. I also am a common sense type of person.

With support from my close family, friends, and industry colleagues, we will work toward continuous improvement of our professions and businesses. Working as a unified federation benefits all our member associations. In difficult economic times, we need all aspects of the Green industry to work together and to share new ideas.

Most sod producers found additional alternative crops to grow when demand for sod was down due to slower constructions starts. Changes like these will help companies weather this economic storm and keep our industry strong long term. In addition to a rough economy, we also have faced new regulations, increased input costs, higher health care costs, and certainly gasoline and fuel costs aren’t moving lower. We all must manage our businesses and WGIF accordingly to ensure we weather the storm.

I was just recently on a behind the scenes tour at Walt Disney World and I would like to share an idea that they have #1 on their list: Guest Satisfaction. Their invited guests to Disney World are just that, Invited Guests. They are not customers or visitors. All the cast members of Disney (aka employees) are to treat everyone as an invited guest. They also understand the importance of their cast members, including all who work behind the scenes.

Take their laundry department, for instance. Without the quality of this department, Disney would be closed in twenty-four hours. Imagine a Disney World without clean linens, no clean hotel rooms, without clean kitchens, and no garbage pickup in the parks. We all can take their approach regarding the behind the scenes personnel that we hire in our industries, and treat all our clients and customers as Invited Guests. Our guest’s satisfaction in our industries is now more important than ever.

Again, I appreciate the opportunity to lead WGIF.

Tom Halter

WGIF Presidents
WGIF was incorporated February 8, 1972 and since incorporation the following individuals have served as President:

William Jung (1972-1973)
Don Groth (1974)
Roy Zehren (1975)
Bert Thierfelder (1976)
John Roeske (1977)
Earl “Bud” Wiggins (1978)
Dick Garbe (1978-1979)
Jack Boerschinger (1980-1981)
Wayne Johnson (1982-1983)
Chuck Gerlach (1984)
John Schaefgen (1985-1986)
Matt Stano (1987-1989)
Bliss Nicholson (1989-1991)
Randy Jasperson (1991-1993)
Marshall Scheibe (1993-1995)
Jeff Edgar (1995-1997)
Lou Wierichs (1997-1999)
Gregory Long (1999-2001)
Terry Kurth (2001-2003)
Bill Vogel (2003-2005)
Gilbert Yerke (2005-2007)
Jim Garbe (2007-2009)
Jerry Schumacher (2009-2011)
Tom Halter (present)