Courtesy of NPMA
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The fourth annual National Pest Management Association (NPMA) Women’s Forum is right around the corner, and NPMA leadership shared some of the expected highlights, including the second Women’s Impact Award ceremony, networking, interactive workshops and keynote speaker sessions.
Allie Allen, B.C.E. executive director of QualityPro and NPMA staff liaison for the Professional Women in Pest Management (PWIPM) Council, said NPMA conducts live crowd polling at the end of the Women’s Forum each year. This allows attendees to reflect on their experiences, set goals for themselves and give feedback for the next conference.
“The feedback polls that [typically get] sent out after people get home get pretty low response rates, but we get almost everyone at that last session to be participating in this, so we have a really good idea of what people want out of the next conference,” Allen said.
Allen said the first conference, held in 2020, was virtual and has grown immensely to include around 300 women and men looking to gather and develop their network to support each other in the industry.
“Trend wise, there's a shift each year and everybody's always been very happy with it,” she said. “We've got breakout sessions, keynote speakers from folks who are outside of the industry, panels with industry experts, and sessions where people are able to self-select into small groups and just talk openly with each other.”
Allen, along with Marillian Missiti, president of Buono Pest Control, Belmont, Mass., and incoming NPMA president, said although the forum is focused on women-led roles in the pest control industry, men are strongly encouraged to attend.
“The pest management industry has so many men who want to support women and make their workplaces, and our industry workforce, accessible to women, and figure out how they can accommodate women and get more women in their workplaces,” Allen said.
Missiti added, “These are our bosses and mentors and the ones that are supporting us. [It’s important] for them to be engaged.”
PAVING A PATH FOR WOMEN-LED LEADERSHIP
Missiti, second generation president of Buono Pest Control, started as a service technician working commercial accounts and sensitive care areas for her father’s company in her early 20s. She said she’s had her fair share of challenges working her way up the industry ladder and not necessarily “fitting the stereotype” in pest control.
“As I got older, the consumer became more educated, and it was a little bit easier for me to face certain challenges,” Missiti said. “I don't have those same challenges, but I have different ones at another level. We've come a long way, but there's still some work to be done educating people out there.”
Missiti said the challenge as a young service technician was “turning negative situations into positive ones.”
“I excelled in those accounts by the level of relationships that I had with those [customers], and they became mentors to me too,” she said. “I was just in really nice situations with safe environments that really helped me get the confidence to escalate in the business.”
Buono Pest currently has two female service technicians, and Missiti said she can understand what they go through as young professionals working in a male-dominant industry.
“I understand how it feels that you have to go pick up your child because he's sick, or you don’t feel good [yourself], but I also understand what the male technicians go through to because it's all relevant,” she said.
Missiti said there have been several women in leadership roles in the industry that have helped her get to where she is today.
“Judy Dold [a past NPMA President] is just 100 percent approachable and wants others to do well. She's just an overall class act, true meaning of etiquette and a strong woman,” she said. “Sheila Haddad from Bell, she was one of the first woman I met in the industry in New England.”
Missiti tells her service technicians and other women in the industry to use their “gift of intuition” to continue working hard and making a way for themselves.
“If this is a good path for you, then just stay in your lane, focus, work as hard as you can and gain that information,” she said. “Try to get as much education with forums and leadership associations with women in the industry. I remember my father saying, ‘Just be patient, and things will come.’”
2023 WOMEN FORUM ROAD MAP
NPMA plans on using a new app software, different from last year’s, for attendees to communicate in real-time, stay updated on each session throughout the conference and reference the contact directory list to network with attendees, Allen said.
“In addition to the educational content, we really know that this conference is about networking and helping people develop their professional network,” she said. “Utilizing the app and open activity time as a way to make memories with people and deepen your relationships or starting relationships with people.”
Back by popular demand are the Impact Awards for Women in Pest Management on Wednesday, May 10 at 11:30 a.m., and the Impactful Women Leaders in Pest Management session on Tuesday, May 9 at 3:45 p.m., led by Susan Douglas, vice president of finance at Renotkil/Terminix; Aly Silva Mulgrew, Plunkett’s Pest Control; Kim Youngpeter, vice president of Rollins; moderated by PCT Publisher Jodi Dorsch.
“We find women in pest management who have some sage words of advice to pass along,” Allen said. “When I listened to Stacy O'Reilly from Plunkett’s [last year], everyone was taking notes because she was talking about executive presence; how to how to listen to your tone— like very tactical useful things that everyone was just eating up.”
NPMA had 140 nominees for the Impact Award, and 90 women were chosen to receive the award.
“They don't have to have become the president or have had to win something nationally,” Missiti said. “You're having everybody from service technicians to entomologists to customer service representatives, which is really nice to see.”
Missiti will also be leading the Interactive Workshop on Leadership on Wednesday, May 10 at 10:15 a.m. following the Leadership Awareness and Agility session at 8:30 a.m. She said this workshop is one attendees will not want to miss.
“There’s a lot of engagement and energy that’s going to be in the room, so I’m really looking forward to that,” Missiti said.
Click here to view the full schedule of events, or click here to register for the 2023 NPMA Women's Forum.