We’re back with another look behind the scenes at Foster Lake & Pond!
This week, Eastern Associate Branch Manager, Brandon Roberts, joins us as he shares his journey, his growth, and what it’s like to be part of such a great team.
Check out this quick message from Mitchell Morton, Foster Lake & Pond General Manager:
Please take a moment and watch this employee spotlight of Brandon Roberts, who has been with us going on 18 years. Brandon’s commitment to constant self-improvement is what makes him such a special member of our team. He is efficient, productive, and accountable in everything he does. He has also continued to work towards being the best LEADER he can be. Brandon has been instrumental in the growth we have experienced over the last several years. He’s also one of the best cooks on the Foster Team. (Ask him to make pork belly for you.) Thanks Brandon Roberts for everything you do for Foster Lake & Pond Management.
Transcript
Hey, my name is Brandon Roberts. I’m the Associate Branch Manager of our Eastern Division here at Foster Lake & Pond. I’ve been working with the company now for a little over 17 years.
How did I find out about Foster Lake & Pond? When I was in college, I worked at a hardware store and Johnny Foster came in to buy some parts and was working on a fountain. I mentioned to him that one of my good friends was an employee at Foster Lake & Pond. That conversation led to an internship with the newly established Charlotte Branch.
So a typical day for me as the Associate Branch Manager focuses around support. I’m there to support our service staff with any questions they have about any of the sites we manage. If they have questions about fountains, to help them with fountains if they’re diagnosing a problem.
Help come up with prescriptions for large treatments. Just continue to build client relationships and just be there to support our employees in any way that I can. I feel the stormwater industry provides a lot of opportunity for someone looking for a career.
As stormwater regulation grows, so does opportunity. The one piece of advice I’d have for someone starting out in this industry is be a sponge. Soak up as much information as you can.
One of the challenges in the stormwater industry I see is education in a sense that educating homeowners, HOAs, the importance of these stormwater devices. People oftentimes see a pond or a bioretention or a level spreader in their community not knowing what it is or the function that it serves and understanding that it does require maintenance and it is important to the community. Someone that’s inspired me in my career, I would have to go back to Johnny Foster. His personality, the type of person he was. He wanted you to have fun, wanted you to take your time off. Just he cared about you as an employee and as a person.
One of the aspects I love about Foster Lake and Pond is the culture we have. I feel that we we’re like one big family. Everybody’s there to help everybody and just like families we may have our disagreements but at the end of the day we’re there for each other.
You know from the top of the company to the bottom of the company anybody will lend a hand to help that person.