de Gourét Litchfield first became an arborist while working for the United Nations as a
rural sociologist in the highlands of Ecuador. He then moved to the UK and on to Denmark before settling in Sweden in 1983, where he worked as an arborist in the Swedish University of Land Use. He was encouraged to establish the first arboricultural company in Sweden 1984 and was soon representing his adopted country on the board of the ISA Scandinavian Chapter. He went on to co-found the Swedish Tree Federation, which became the Swedish ISA Chapter in 1998.
Since becoming involved in the industry, de Gourét has served on the ISA Board of Directors, the International Development Committee, the Arborist News Editorial Board and the Awards and Nominations Committee. He has also been an ITCC judge for the last 12 years. de Gourét says that his inspiration comes from the dedicated ISA volunteers he has met over the years, as well as the support that he has received from ISA staff.
de Gourét’s keen interest in people helped him grow his current company, an education and climbing equipment firm.Through this company, he also provides tree care services for the Swedish Prime Minister and the Swedish Royal family. He has been his chapter’s international liaison officer and served as both vice president and president, the latter for a record term of three days before stepping down to serve on the new ISA Board. He is a founding member of the European Arboricultural Council (EAC) and has served on their executive committee and as president. He is currently the president
of the EAC Accreditation Board. With a foot in both camps, it was a moment of strong personal satisfaction when the ISA and the EAC signed their MoU and agreed to mutually recognize and facilitate the exchange of each other’s professionalqualifications.
The perceived gap between “suits” and “climbers” has always been onerous to him and de Gourét is most certainly a hands-on arborist, still climbing commercially at the age of 55. With the opportunity to use a number of the languages that hespeaks, de Gourét strives to integrate European arborists closer into the ISA family and dreams of helping to establish an Ecuadorian ISA Chapter. He is currently engaged in a number of aid programs in Ecuador with an emphasis on tree planting. Communication is the key to integration and the dissemination of knowledge, and de Gourét believes that there is no
better global organization than the ISA to move this forward.