Kariné Stuimer, is a senior vice president at BrightView Landscape Services, the largest commercial landscaping company, providing maintenance, renovation, and irrigation services for commercial, hospitality, HOA, municipal and corporate campuses across the United States. She and her team are responsible for creating and maintaining beautiful landscapes across the Pacific Northwest.

A native of Ethiopia who came to America at age three, Kariné says she “fell into” her career in landscaping. Kariné graduated from the University of California, Riverside originally pursuing journalism, she attained a degree in English with a minor in Environmental Science. After graduation she helped a friend by taking on a short-term job in Property Management. While on numerous site walks with clients, she fell in love with the combination of being outdoors and creating and installing beautiful and usable spaces. This experience inspired her to take on a second job at Home Depot’s garden center to learn more about plants, and to take UC Extension classes in landscape design, horticulture, and plant identification.

She started her career in the landscape industry as a customer service representative at a small local company. Consistently pursuing and being challenged with new opportunities, she learned construction estimation and became a construction estimator and project manager with a focus on municipal parks projects. She was recruited to the maintenance side of the business in 2006, and later progressed her career from account manager to SVP.

Starting her career at a small, family-owned business, then going through an acquisition by Brightview Landscape Services, Kariné’s career has now come full circle. Today she plays a major role in on-boarding other smaller business through acquisitions, leveraging her strength in developing customer relationships and building trust with others. She is Bay Friendly Certified and is known for her strategic thinking, budgeting, and cost-containment expertise and savvy negotiation skills. When not on an airplane to go to another project site, she enjoys volunteering. Today Kariné lives in Meridian, ID moving there during the pandemic to be in a geography that inspires her most.

Men are more than welcome and encouraged to attend.