Though he grew up around the industry—his father and uncle started R.M. Landscape, a western New York landscape company—Brett Lemcke says he was never pushed into it. But he loved it. After earning a horticulture degree at the State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill—and completing an internship at Gachina Landscape Management in California—Lemcke returned to the family business, of which he is now CEO.

Lemcke and his wife, Denise, have three kids: 5-year-old Anna and 2-year-old twins Brooks and Tessa.