Connecting Leaders in the Green Industry: Highlights from the 2026 NALP Leaders Forum

Author, Greg Garcia, Account Executive, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

This year’s National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) Leaders Forum took place in beautiful Santa Barbara, CA, just up the coast from San Diego. As always, this is one event that my brother Drew Garcia and I really enjoy going to every year. In fact, this marks Rancho Mesa’s 8th consecutive year sponsoring this event.

The forum brings together landscape leaders from across the country, giving them a place to connect, collaborate, and learn. For our Rancho Mesa team, it is an opportunity to not only network with these leaders and stay up to date on what is new and noteworthy in the green industry, but also gives us the opportunity to spend time with some of our clients who attended this year’s forum.

One of the most interesting educational sessions at this year’s event was based around the importance of meetings within an organization. The speaker, Gabrielle (Gabe) Adams, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Business Administration at UVA Darden School of Business, discussed that most organizations may be having too many meetings and the meetings they are having are not as effective as they could be. One of the biggest downfalls that Gabe mentioned is that all too often there is not enough debate and discussion in these meetings, rather most meetings are dominated by one or two voices and most people tend to hold their opinions to themselves even if they don’t agree. Gabe described the best meetings that are the most effective involve everyone participating in the discussion, this is where creative ideas and processes are developed. We found Gabe’s topic to be both educational and thought provoking.

The highlight of the trip was on Thursday night when we hosted both Rancho Mesa clients and other green industry leaders to a dinner at The Elwood, which was just down the road from where the Leaders Forum was taking place. This night was filled with fantastic food and even better conversation. It was a great place to hear strategies and processes that made each of their landscape companies successful.

All in all, NALP Leaders Forum was a huge success, packed with valuable networking and learning opportunities. We are already looking forward to 2027.

If you are interested in discussing this event or your company’s risk management, I can be reached at (619) 438-6905 or ggarcia@ranchomesa.com.