“These guys now climbing trees are going to be sales members or managers someday, and there would be no way we could grow our company to accommodate their long-term career paths. That was our motivation in selling,” said Sara Hesley, co-founder of Town Branch Tree Experts.
As its name suggests, Town Branch Tree Experts has established itself as a leading tree service company in and around Lexington for its depth of knowledge and experience. Sara Hesley, who co-founded the “little mom-and-pop niche tree care operation” with her husband, Jesse Hesley, in 2011, attributes the business’ success to its holistic approach to tree care and its team of skilled, highly educated, internationally accredited professionals.
“We take care of the urban canopy in Lexington,” Sara said. “We approach our work from an environmental stewardship perspective. We are interested in preservation and keeping trees healthy by providing services that increase the safety and lifespan of our urban forest.”
That means professional training and lots of it. Town Branch has employed members trained at the highest level that an arborist can be trained. To reach that level means they know the health, physiology, and biology of trees.
“That means we work in a way that is going to preserve that tree’s health and its ability to heal from pruning, which will go a long way to ensure the future of that tree,” Sara said.
Jesse Hesley, co-founder of Town Branch Tree Experts, works on a tree in Lexington.
With its expert qualifications and reputation, Town Branch Tree Experts was sailing along. But, to grow the business to the next level and ensure long-term career stability for its employees, the Hesleys decided it was time to sell the business to an established international tree care company. Bartlett Tree Experts recently acquired Town Branch, and the two are joining forces to blend both companies’ professional experience and credentials.
Bartlett was founded in 1907 and is considered among the world’s leading scientific tree and shrub care companies. Bartlett has more than 100 offices in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Ireland. The Bartlett family’s ownership of the company is in its third generation.
“Town Branch has been an incredible company with incredible people and culture,” said Vinny Rozette, a vice president and division manager for Bartlett based in the Pittsburgh area. “They align well with our vision for good, ethical arboriculture.”
Rozette says one change that will be seen is a greater emphasis on plant healthcare, which means ensuring that customers’ trees and ornamental landscapes have adequate nutrition and that insect and disease concerns are diagnosed and treated.
“They have really set the bar for scientific tree care in the industry,” Sara said. “They have a scientific laboratory division that is staffed by people who are doing amazing research around anything and everything that impacts trees in the urban environment. They have contributed mightily to the industry.”
The Hesleys don’t expect a lot to change for the revised company. The couple will keep their company property on Price Road and become Bartlett’s landlord at the site. Bartlett will absorb Town Branch’s staff of about 10 employees. A large team of Bartlett employees came to Lexington to help the Hesleys with the transition, systems, processes, and technology.
Sara likes that Bartlett places an emphasis on small local economies. “Rather than Bartlett acting like a mega-corporation with branches all over the place, they allow a lot of autonomy for the local offices to be part of the local economy.”
Why the sale to a giant like Bartlett? As the CEO and the mom in the little mom-and-pop operation, Sara started thinking about what should be next for the company.
“We had our tenth anniversary as a business during COVID and didn’t get to celebrate, but I did a lot of thinking during that quiet lockdown,” she said.
Sara believed Town Branch had met its first set of 10-year goals but needed to plan for the next 10 and beyond. She wondered: How do we grow enough to keep providing good benefits for employees and longevity for their careers in Lexington?
“These guys now climbing trees are going to be sales members or managers someday, and there would be no way we could grow our company to accommodate their long-term career paths. That was our motivation in selling to Bartlett.”
Jesse worked for Bartlett for a time when the couple lived in San Francisco. “We modeled our little Lexington business on the high level of professionalism and scientific approach that is the Bartlett way,” Sara said. “We must have made a very big impression on Bartlett for them to come in and buy us and onboard our team.”
Asked if the name change might cause Town Branch to lose some of its customers, Hesley said the companies sent customers a joint letter of explanation. She is confident that the relationships they have built over the years will remain intact and that the services will be ratcheted up a notch or two.
Sara has stepped away from the business and will focus more on the couple’s family and furthering her education. She is enrolled in a doctoral program.
“I am looking at organizational culture and how we can level up the environment that people work in so they can have a greater quality of life and be happier with work,” she said. “My experience as a business owner has inspired me to figure out how to scale these ideas for all types of businesses.”