MEET OUR STAFF
Kristopher Dabner
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Kristopher Dabner is President and Creative Director of The Greensman, Inc. He has been involved in creative pursuits his entire life. He graduated with a degree in Architecture from the University of Kansas. He has also worked as an art director for television and film. He founded the Greensman in 1994 and the company has grown from a “one man show,” to its current size of 15 full-time and up to 30 seasonal employees.
Kristopher’s philosophy combines great design, enormous energy, entrepreneurship and philanthropy and he uses that philosophy to create unique gardens for the Greensman’s clients. Greensman designs take a full-picture approach, incorporating the existing structure, expanding the hardscape, taking into account plans for the future environment. Kristopher’s designs have been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Country Gardens, Kansas City Home Design, KC Magazine, SPACES and the Kansas City Star.
816-523-1516
kristopher@thegreensman.com
James Walls
DESIGNER
James was born in northeast Oklahoma and grew up in the town of Webb City, Missouri. His love of the outdoors ultimately led him to a career in the landscape industry. His favorite climbing tree growing up was the American sycamore. James earned his bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from North Carolina A&T State University.
After a decade of living and starting a family in North Carolina, he and wife Katy returned to the Midwest along with their children Noah and Cora. When not designing your new landscape, James enjoys hitting the extensive mountain bike trails around KC and northwest Arkansas or playing just about any game that requires a racket.
816-859-4903
james@thegreensman.com
Brian Martin
IRRIGATION MANAGER
Brian Martin was born in Kansas City. He has a Bachelor of Science in Turf Management from Kansas State University. He started working at Mission Hills Country Club when he was fifteen and worked there through high school and college and for four years after college. He worked for himself for ten years offering lawn and irrigation services. Before joining The Greensman, Brian worked for 1.5 years traveling the country working for a golf course irrigation company.
Brian lives with his fiancée and one daughter and his passions include camping, fishing and cooking/grilling outdoors. They have no pets yet, but we know as he spends more time around Kristopher, that is likely to change.
816-935-1057
brian@thegreensman.com
Charles Fugate
BOOKKEEPER
Charles has had careers as an actor, a singer, engineer, restaurant manager, and these days a bookkeeper. He’s a third-generation only child who was born and grew up in Jefferson City, Missouri. His career in landscaping began in 2001 assisting on a water feature construction; continued into crew maintenance and installation work; and eventually landed him in front of the one company desktop teaching himself Quickbooks. He holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from University of Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri S&T).
Charles’ favorite plants are flowering perennials and decorative grasses; he loves watching the cycle of growth from nothing (above ground) to peak to cutback to starting over again the next year. Charles and his husband Joseph enjoy Pirates games, biking, traveling and parenting a loveable but strong-willed McNab mix named Denali. Other pastimes include cooking, knitting, paddle boarding, photography and piloting a John Deere around his western Pennsylvania woodland home.
816-332-6949
charles@thegreensman.com
Chance Scarlett
PROJECT MANAGER
Chance was born and raised in Topeka, Kansas, and moved to the Kansas City area in 2020. He grew up working for farmers around the Topeka area and eventually found his way to the landscaping industry he works in today. He has a degree in horticulture science with a focus on landscape design and maintenance from Kansas State University. His favorite perennial flower is liatris as it reminds him of his time growing up on prairie grasslands, and his favorite tree is the eastern cottonwood. In his free time, he works on his own landscape at his home and enjoys kayaking rivers in the midwest with his family and friends.
816-209-7805
chance@thegreensman.com
Samantha Armas
OFFICE MANAGER
Sam Armas worked for Disneyland Parks and Home Depot before making her move to Kansas City. She was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, but was raised in Southern California. She is first-generation Mexican American and loves to embrace both of her backgrounds. She began her green industry with our company as our Office Manager. Sam has a degree in Business Administration from UC Irvine. Her favorite tree is the palm tree because it reminds her of her west coast life. Sam enjoys the culinary arts and loves to cook for her family and friends.
816-523-1516
samantha@thegreensman.com
Wyatt Youtsey
MAINTENANCE MANAGER
Wyatt was born in Broussard, Louisiana and raised in Abilene, Kansas where he earned his Eagle Scout ranking at the age of just fourteen. After obtaining his degree in Landscape Horticulture with a focus in Design and Maintenance from Kansas State University in 2020, he moved to Kansas City. He began to pursue his career in the industry, taking on any role given to him as an opportunity to grow and learn as much as the field has to offer! Wyatt lives with his fiancée and their two spoiled rescue dogs. They love going out to dance, eat, and explore the city in their free time. Their newest hobby is planning their 2026 wedding.
816-673-9051
wyatt@thegreensman.com
Hattie Kennedy
ASSISTANT TO THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Originally from Kansas City, Hattie Kennedy has worked for The Greensman beginning in 2020 as a Seasonal Color Specialist, and then ventured to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, in 2021 to work as a Container Garden Specialist at Clay Gardens for 2-1/2 years, developing and maintaining a program with a customer base of 25 regular clients. Her role consisted of consulting, design, planting and maintaining containers. KC tugged on her heart to return the summer of 2023, when she resumed working with The Greensman as Assistant to the Creative Director. Along with gardening and design, she also enjoys landscape and floral photography and photographs our projects and does our social media posting.
Away from work, she enjoys traveling, kicking back with family and friends and listening to music. Whether it’s in the garden or elsewhere, she enjoys working with people, providing exceptional customer service, and doing her best to make sure the people she’s in contact with leave the conversation with a smile on their face!
913-269-3182
hattie@thegreensman.com
Lee Conner
DESIGNER
Lee is a transplant from Nanih Waiya, Mississippi, where he grew up on an orchard. Growing up in a magical landscape designed by a master horticulturist surrounded by wild forests and pine plantations began inspiring him to dig deeper into landscapes from an early age. Lee moved to Kansas City in 2016 after receiving his bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture from Mississippi State University.
Lee is most passionate about native plants and ecology. His favorite tree is the Blackjack Oak.
Lee spends his weekends playing in his own landscape as well as brainstorming and falling in love with clients’ landscapes. Lee hopes to make a career of designing beautiful spaces for people, whether public or private, that also meet the needs of local ecology. His biggest landscape regret so far is planting English ivy at the base of the trees in his parents’ yard back home in Mississippi (eradication in progress).
lee@thegreensman.com
Tisha Roberts
SEASONAL COLOR/MAINT. CREW LEAD
Tisha Roberts has been with the Greensman since Spring of 2025. She brings with her 9 years of experience from working at the Leawood Country Club golf course doing in-ground and container plantings and maintenance. Tisha is passionate about plants and flowers, and is very detail oriented. When not in the gardens, she enjoys spending time with her family and grandson.
816-651-8940
tisha@thegreensman.com
Kyle Knapp
SEASONAL COLOR SPECIALIST
Kyle Knapp is a passionate gardener and horticulture student at Johnson County Community College, with hands-on experience gained through dedicated mentors and years of personal gardening. He is passionate about greenhouse and wholesale plant production, with a goal of growing high-quality plants and flowers for the horticulture industry. Gardening is both his profession and favorite hobby, and he enjoys continually expanding his knowledge of plants, propagation, and sustainable growing practices. His favorite flower is the foxglove.
913-293-7763
kyle@thegreensman.com
Wil Plunkett
DESIGNER
Wil comes to us from Norman, Oklahoma and attended Oklahoma University and went to the School of Architecture at Kansas State. Not only is he a landscape designer, but also a drummer in a garage band. We can’t wait to see the designs Wil drums up for us!
405-464-7618
wil@thegreensman.com
