Interview with Zech Strauser, Founder of Urture Apparel & Outfitters

09/18/24 • 30 min

The habitat of Zech Strauser’s childhood were the farms and free-ranging open spaces of eastern Pennsylvania. During a time when most children’s lives move indoors, Zech was homeschooled by parents who inspired his curiosity in the natural world, giving him a powerful connection with nature that defines him to this day.

Zech’s journey, from playing outdoors to making a living outdoors, was the road trip of a lifetime. He pursued the life of a ski instructor and mogul coach In Vermont, became interested in outdoor performance apparel, and in 1998, he launched one of eastern Pennsylvania’s most recognized regional landscape companies, a firm – Strauser Nature’s Helpers that was acquired by Schill Grounds Management in 2023.

Zech remains a senior advisor and investor in Schill Grounds Management and is an ongoing advisor and investor in Strauser Nature’s Helpers. He’s an investor in robotic mowing technology and owns and manages a commercial real estate portfolio. He’s shaped nature-focused non-profits and sat on the board of Come Alive Outside.

Recently, built a sustainable farm retreat in southern Vermont and launched Urture, a green collar workwear and outfitter specializing in gear for careers outside. “Urture brings me full-circle,” said Zech. “Growing up and being outdoors my entire life, I had a dream to have an outdoor clothing brand with the ability to make an impact. The rapid growth of green collar jobs gives me an opportunity to make sure that the people doing next generation green jobs have the right protective gear and apparel to do their jobs well.”

Part of Urture’s platform is its Patch Project passion project, a program that gives back to vocational schools that advance green collar careers. “We know that children need to play outside more. But it’s also true that everyone needs to be outside more. It’s on us to make nature a daily, ordinary part of everyone’s life and do what we can to make green jobs and the green economy a great career choice, supported by opportunities for training and growth.”

“Public school was a challenge and a vocational horticulture class in the 9th grade was an inspiration. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the teachers and the opportunity they gave me, gratitude I can repay through the Patch Project products we sell and the performance apparel we make, and our continued commitment to make sure that everyone who works in nature has what they need to succeed.

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Interview with Shawn Prince, President of Field Services at Attentive AI

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Interview with Shelia Matthews, Chief People Officer at Wilson360 and Founder of Culture Pro, LLC

Shelia Matthews has joined the Wilson360 team as culture practice leader and first-ever chief people officer. She leads people and organizational performance consulting for Wilson360 clients.

Shelia Matthews’ approach to scaling businesses is simple. Get the people part right and everything else falls into place. Shelia has worked with businesses from many different industries like manufacturing, services, and private equity to name a few. She’s worked for large Fortune companies like UPS and MetLife, and most recently, a small startup known as Acquisition.com, where she oversaw the People Operations function and scaled the company from a handful of employees to an army of amazing talent. While working in the private equity space, she helped hundreds of founders and business owners identify constraints in their business and offered practical solutions to help them scale.

Although Shelia loves the work she does, she is most passionate about helping business owners level up their companies. She strongly believes that you must have an understanding of the business in order to build a strong and healthy culture to support it. “Knowing HR and understanding people isn’t enough. You must be able to translate culture into profitability,” she says, right along with, “It’s more affordable to do the right thing for your people than you realize.”

Shelia is the founder of Culture Pro, LLC, where she offers fractional People Operations leadership to small services-based businesses. Culture Pro’s mission is to create environments where people thrive and the business flourishes.

Though originally from Florida, Shelia currently lives in the Atlanta suburbs with her husband and two children, who are five and ten years old. Her son is a competitive swimmer, and her daughter believes she is a princess. When Shelia isn’t being her kids' personal Uber driver, she spends her free time at the gym, traveling, or hiking with Ranger, the family’s Boxer dog. Shelia received an MBA from Colorado State University and prior to that, graduated with highest honors from the University of North Florida, where she received a bachelor’s degree in psychology.