Sperber Recognized for Contributions to Industry

CALABASAS, Calif. - Burt Sperber, Environmental Industries' Founder and Chief executive officer, has been honored as a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) for his continuing and distinguished service in the landscaping industry.

Sperber was one of only 18 new Fellows selected by his peers from ASLA chapters across the country to be inducted at a Sept. 22, 2001 ceremony. Sperber was recognized for furthering the understanding between landscape contractors and architects, and for a half century of service and support to the profession.

"This well-deserved election to the Fellows recognizes Burt's extraordinarily distinguished and productive work as a landscaper, his active participation in professional communities of landscape professionals and as landscape business entrepreneur," remarked Gary Beggs, FASLA and president and principal of Peridian International, Inc., a landscape architecture and planning firm based in Irvine, Calif.

Sperber, who holds a 1954-issued license is the only member in his company's history to be elected to the Fellows of the ASLA, and one of few outside the professional realm of landscape architecture.

Beyond his corporate responsibilities, Sperber has been involved in supporting and leading several professional societies. He was one of the founding directors of Associated Landscape Contractors of America and he advanced the Handbook of Landscape Architecture and Construction and published the EII-sponsored Landscape Cost Estimating Handbook, still used today as a college text.

Calabasas-based Environmental Industries is a privately held landscape organization of more than 5,500 employees nationwide, with revenues in excess of $500 million.