The Edge June/July/August 2026

TALKING WITH TITANS

Talking with Titans: Kurt Bland

KURT BLAND IS THE CEO AND PRESIDENT OF BLAND LANDSCAPING Company, based in Apex, North Carolina. Bland started working for his family’s business when he was 14 during the summers. He earned degrees in agriculture business management and horticulture science from North Carolina State University before he and his brother, Matt, took over the business from their parents when they were 29 and 27, respectively.

The smartest advice anyone ever gave our family was for the next generation to leave the family business following their education and to get work experience in management before coming back to join the family-owned business. I still give this advice to every multi-generational busi ness I speak to, although few take the advice and many of them understand it better in hindsight when it is too late to go back. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU THAT THE COMPANY HAS NOW BEEN IN BUSINESS FOR 50 YEARS? It means I am getting old! For the longest time, we spoke about 50 years in business as if it were some nebulous point in the distance that we might never reach. We set goals, such as 50-50-50, and while we were busy living and working, those goals snuck up on us. Matt and I set out to grow the company to $50M in revenue by the time the company and I reached fifty years old, which is March of 2026. Last year, we did more than twice that with gross revenue of more than $100M. That doesn’t seem like a big of a feat today, but remembering when this business was sub $10M in revenue twenty years ago doesn’t seem like that long ago. Time has flown by, and to think that the company and I are both half a centu ry old is pretty hard to believe. Reflecting on it makes me genuinely grateful for the countless men and women who have participated now or ever in the growth of this business into something we could only have dreamed about years ago. I feel fortunate and blessed to have been entrusted with the opportunity to stew ard this team for half of this journey, and I look forward to the next fifty years and seeing what lies in store for our team. HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS TODAY COMPARED TO WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED RUNNING THE COMPANY? When I took over, success was very much something I measured in income and earnings. It was a small business and our livelihoods as owners of a pass-through entity were very directly linked to each

By Jill Odom

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE LESSONS YOU LEARNED WHEN YOU HAD TO TAKE ON THE BUSINESS 10 YEARS EARLIER THAN PLANNED? Succession is difficult, regardless of plan ning and preparation. Succession under the duress of an ailing co-founder and parent is even more difficult. I was 29, and there was so much to learn, but we didn’t have the luxury of time to figure things out the way it had been taught to us in a textbook fashion. When you find yourself in that situation, you have to be steadfast and use improv to adapt and take the challenges in stride as they come. They will come. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER OWNERS LOOKING TO PASS THE BUSINESS ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION?

Bland Landscaping is a full-service pro vider of landscape design, installation, enhancement and maintenance services to commercial customers, including offices, hospitals, universities and HOAs. The company became private equi ty-backed in 2017 and has tripled their size through organic growth and acqui sitions. They now serve the Carolinas and surrounding Southeastern states.

32 The Edge // June/July/August 2026