After graduating from college and working in sales, Jay and his father joined forces to found J’s Custom Landscaping. These days, Jay runs the business and manages sales, landscape construction, and small project teams and also does much of the design and plant selection. He says he “eats, sleeps and breathes landscaping,” but really, it’s the employees and customers that light up his day. He explains, “We go the extra mile — by listening and fact finding — to create landscapes that are beautiful to each client.”

You’ll often see Jay with his phone to his ear, working with a customer or an employee. “I try to be very flexible with our staff.” says Jay, “That earns me a level of loyalty that allows me to ask them to move heaven and earth occasionally to get a project done.” When asked whom he admires most, Jay says without hesitation, “My father, Jerry. He is truly the most genuine and nicest person you will ever meet. He’s willing to give you the shirt off his back.”

When Jay takes a few moments for himself, you can find him wrestling with his kids, barreling down a local trail on his mountain bike or rooting for the Seahawks and the Blazers.