Alan Handley is a transformational essential services industry leader and Chief Executive Officer of Visterra Landscape Group, a premier commercial landscaping platform. Under Alan’s leadership, Visterra catapulted to the 50th largest landscape company in the United States and earned company recognition as a 2024 Best Places to Work in Landscaping winner by Lawn & Landscape magazine. In addition to steering the company’s strategic growth initiatives, Alan leads a companywide safety team recently recognized by the National Association of Landscape Professionals with multiple partner company safety awards.

Alan joined Visterra following a successful, decade-long run at LRS as its co-founder and CEO. Under his leadership, LRS catapulted from a Chicago based $50m business in 2012 to the fifth largest privately-held waste, recycling and portable services company in North America. While at LRS, Alan grew revenue more than 12X over an eleven-year period, expanding its footprint from one state to 11, and growing the employee base from 120 in 2012 to over 3,000 at exit. Alan also managed three recapitalizations, including a successful exit to Macquarie Asset Management valued at over $1.2 billion in 2022.

Prior to LRS, Alan served as Executive Vice President and CFO at the Aldridge Group, one of the nation’s leading electrical technology partners, where he co-led the growth of that business from $140 million to $500 million and executed a successful exit in 2012. Earlier in his career, Alan ascended to leadership positions at KPMG, Heller Financial Services and Price Waterhouse.

Alan earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where he later served as an adjunct professor, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy from Northern Illinois University (NIU). In the early 1990s, Alan was mobilized in Operation Desert Storm, serving the nation in the United States Marine Corps.

He is actively involved in raising awareness and support for individuals impacted by Lupus through his leadership with University of Chicago Medicine and the Lupus Society of Illinois. His board commitments include: the Lupus Society of Illinois, the Pediatric Lupus Clinic at the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital and serving as chairman of the Board of Executive Advisors at the NIU College of Business.

Alan and his lovely wife, Ann, have been married for over 30 years and raised four beautiful daughters. Alan enjoys spending quality time with family and friends, traveling the world, flying, sailing, scuba diving and mountaineering. He is passionate about protecting green spaces through environmental conservation, and ridding plastic from the world’s oceans.