Burton S. Sperber, FASLA
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Chairman of the Board of Directors
ValleyCrest Companies

Burton S. Sperber founded ValleyCrest Companies in 1949, and has led it with vision and wisdom through nearly six decades of dynamic growth. Starting out with a $700 investment, a single location and a few employees, Burt has seen the company's revenue grow to over $750 million in sales, operate from more than 100 locations nationwide, and have on its payroll more than 9,500 employees. Equally impressive is that the company has consistently been ranked by industry surveys and trade publications as one of the finest landscape organizations in the country for its innovation and best practices, its company culture and its award-winning work.

From the beginning, Burt played a vital role in crafting strategy. With a focus on creating a people-centered corporate culture (employees and customers), Burt created a company that has always been ahead of the curve. Today, ValleyCrest is the largest privately held landscape firm in the country with a reputation for best practices, innovation, quality services and award-winning landscapes.

A pioneer in establishing the industry as a professional and respected entity, Burt was instrumental in establishing regional and national landscape contracting associations. He was a founding member of the California Institute for Landscape Architecture and the American Institute for Landscape Architecture, organizations that are precursors to today's state and national associations. He is a Fellow in the American Society of Landscape Architects (FASLA), and has been recognized with awards and honors throughout his six decade career as a landscape architect, contractor and business executive. He is a Director of Los Angeles Beautiful, former President and Founder of the California Landscape and Irrigation Council, and former Director of the Landscape Architectural Foundation.

The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Contractor of the Year (1999) and the City of Hope Man of the Year "Spirit of Life" Award (1971), Burt has played an active role in the community. He has served on the Advisory Boards at both Cal Poly Pomona and the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo School of Environmental & Horticultural Sciences. He is active in Cry California, Habitat for Humanity, HomeAid America, National Conference for Community and Justice, L. A. Family Housing (former Director), Sierra Club, The Foresters, The Mayor's Community Relations Council, The Wilderness Society, United Jewish Welfare Construction Division, and is a Director of the Venice Family Clinic.

Beginning in the 1960s, Burt was among the first to establish company scholarship programs in horticulture and landscape architecture with the California Association of Nurserymen, Landscape Architectural Foundation, California Polytechnic University, Cornell University, Iowa State, Mississippi State, Penn State, Purdue and the University of Arizona.