Lou began his green industry career after his freshman year of college in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. That summer, he joined a small tree care company focused on removals and occasional pruning. After a few years, he moved into landscaping with a design and installation firm. Taking night classes in horticulture, Lou developed an appreciation for how plants work together in the landscape.

In 2013, he joined The Davey Tree Expert Company as part of their commercial landscape team. In August 2013, Lou obtained his certification as an ISA Certified Arborist®, and since then earn his ISA Certified Urban Forest Professional® certification and his ISA Certified Arborist Utility Specialist® certification, along with an ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification®.

In 2017, Lou moved to Maryland and began a stint in utility arboriculture with the Davey Resource Group. This opportunity opened his eyes to the breadth and scope of utility vegetation management, a huge sector of the green industry. He eventually moved back to residential arboriculture, first as a sales arborist and then as a manager. In 2021, his role changed to commercial development, working with schools, HOAs, shopping centers, and other commercial sites throughout Maryland and Washington, DC, to manage their tree canopies. Today, Lou’s role with Davey is focused on developing business in the government sector in a national role.

He lives in Ellicott City, Maryland with his wife, Molly, and two children, Louie and Maggie. He is on the board of the Maryland Arborist Association, is past Treasurer of the MAC-ISA Chapter, and serves on the board of the Howard County Conservancy.

Nicole Walker is the author of several books including How to Plant a Billion Trees: A Memoir of Childhood Trauma and the Healing Power of Nature, Sustainability: A Love Story, and The After – Normal: Brief, Alphabetical Essays on a Changing Planet, along with many other noted titles. She has written several pieces for The New York Times and is a recognized author in several editions of Best American Essays. She edits the Crux, the literary nonfiction series at University of Georgia Press and teaches creative writing at Northern Arizona University where she serves as Writer-in-Residence for the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society.

Rob Shaut is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Casey Trees a Washington, DC-based non-profit. He was formerly the Tree Operations Director, managing a 30-person team responsible for planting 7,000 plus trees per year, while maintaining thousands more annually throughout Washington, D.C, Maryland, and Virginia. Rob also oversees the Casey Tree Farm, Education, Policy and Land Conservation, Development, and Communications departments. He is a Certified Arborist® through the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and he is Tree Risk Assessment Qualified.  

Rob holds a certification from the Professional Horticulture Program at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square Pennsylvania, a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Clemson University and Rob has studied at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, in the UK.

(ISA Cert. MA-6185A) 

Our guest co-host, Lou Meyer, began his Arboricultural journey in Cincinnati back in 2001 when he needed a summer job. Over the years he has worked in residential and commercial tree care, residential and commercial landscaping, and utility Arboriculture in Ohio and Maryland, where he currently resides. After working for a few smaller operations, Lou joined Davey Tree in 2013. He earned his ISA Arborist certification in 2014, and since then he has earned his Municipal and Utility Specialist Certs along with becoming TRAQ certified. Lou has served on the boards of the Mid Atlantic Chapter of the ISA and the Maryland Arborist Association. He lives in Ellicott City, just west of Baltimore, with his wife Molly and two children, Louie and Maggie. His favorite tree (this week) is a white oak.