Shawn Payne is a college-educated horticulturist with over two decades of experience working with plants and pests. After graduating from vocational high school specializing in horticulture, he went on to earn dual degrees from the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute. Shawn studied abroad in the United Kingdom, and was a well-known entomology and botany peer tutor (that’s a fancy way of saying he helped his friends kick butt in their bugs and plants classes). After college, Shawn spent time working with the Davey Resource Group at Con Edison in Westchester County, NY. He then moved into a gardener position for the city of Cleveland. There, he helped care for the grounds and display greenhouses at Rockefeller Park Greenhouse. His main duties were pesticide application and helping seasonal floriculture crops thrive in the production greenhouses. In September of 2008, Shawn took a position as a groundskeeper at NASA Glenn Research Center. Although his job duties ranged from cutting grass to repairing water main breaks, weed control and structural pest control were his main responsibility — and he was quite good at it, if you don’t mind us bragging! After the birth of his first child, Shawn branched out on his own and started his business, Advantage Landscape Services. In less than a year, he expanded his focus and the company evolved into Lakewood Plant and Pest a year later. Finally, after recognizing an overwhelming demand for quality pest control services in the area, Shawn decided to discontinue landscaping services and focus his company’s efforts on his true specialty — personalized, quality pest control. Shawn resides in Rocky River, OH with his two daughters. When he’s not busy solving pest problems, he enjoys relaxing with family and friends.