Lewis Tree Service Wins ESOP Award

WASHINGTON - Lewis Tree Service, an employee-owned company based in Rochester, N.Y., has been selected by The ESOP Association as its 2004 Employee Ownership Month Poster Contest Winner. The ESOP Association is the national trade association for companies with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and the leading voice in America for employee ownership.

Founded in 1938, Lewis Tree Service is a 100-percent employee-owned company and a leader in providing vegetative management services to utilities and governments. Lewis Tree Service, Inc. currently employs over 1,500 individuals of which 600 are employee owners.

Lewis Tree Service's poster was selected because of the idea it expressed: ESOP - The Bridge to Success. The poster design will be used as The ESOP Association's Employee Ownership Poster in October, which is recognized as Employee Ownership Month. The design will also be used for the Employee Ownership Month tee-shirt.

Founded in 1978, The ESOP Association represents over 1,300 ESOP companies and 750,000 employee owners who believe that employee ownership will improve American competitiveness, increase productivity through greater employee participation and strengthen our free enterprise economy.