Bruce Church President
Bruce Church is the owner and President of Balanced Environments, Inc. Bruce started in the landscape industry in 1976 and took over BEI in 2003. Bruce has a Bachelor of Arts from University of Illinois in LAS/Economics and an Master of Business Administration from Northern Illinois University. He was included in the second round of receiving a national certification for Landscape Management just as ALCA’s (American Landscape Contractors Association) certification program was initiated. At the time these were called a Certified Landscape Professional (CLP), it is now called a Landscape Certified Landscape Manager (LCIM). Bruce’s father ran D.R. Church Landscape Company beginning in 1963 and Bruce basically grew up on the trucks, helping fix equipment and maintaining landscaping. Once he was old enough, he had his own residential landscape route and the rest is history. He has won the Associate Member of the Year award from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Suburban Chicago and the first ever lifetime achievement award from BOMA several years later. Bruce has worked on and won several gold, silver, and bronze landscape awards in both the State Landscape Association as well as the National Landscape Association. Sites include the Chicago Botanic Gardens and O’Hare International Center. Bruce tries to strike a balance between making a landscape stand out and provide great curb appeal so the buildings BEI landscapes stand out from their competitors. He does this while closely monitoring the horticultural requirements of the plant palette. He tries to avoid creating a large carbon footprint or the need to water or apply fertilizers and pesticides excessively. This philosophy matches well with the name, Balanced Environments. Bruce is on the Board of Ambassadors and is the previous President for OMNI Youth Services. He writes columns for the membership committee at BOMA, whereby he profiles various members of the association. He also scores applicants for an ILCA scholarship in his father’s name.