Lawn & Landscape Top 100 - The Top 100 | Ryan Lawn & Tree After 20 years, Ryan Lawn & Tree is fully employee-owned, and the decision to do so became an excellent recruiting chip. Photo courtesy of Ryan Lawn & Tree Larry Ryan just wanted to do it right. His company, Ryan Lawn & Tree, which ranks No. 45 on Lawn & Landscape’s 2020 Top 100 list, started the transition into an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) in 1998. After 20 years of gradually working itself into becoming fully employee owned, Ryan says his company now recruits with an excellent sales pitch: Employees can become fully vested in the company after six years.