FAIRFAX, Va. — The Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA) today announced to its board and the industry that Cindy Mannes has accepted the position of executive director. Mannes was executive director of PPMA from 2001-08 before leaving to work as chief marketing and strategy officer of Atlanta-based Arrow Exterminators. Her official start date at PPMA is Aug. 3.
“It’s an honor to be representing the industry and I’m really excited to continue the great work of PPMA,” Mannes told PCT. “I’ve been working at a pest management firm for seven years and that brings a unique perspective to this position. Hopefully that perspective brings some strength to the organization.”
According to Tommy Fortson, “We are very pleased to welcome Cindy back as PPMA’s executive director. It was under her direction that the organization found its sea legs and demonstrated the power of a unified industry voice.”
Bob Rosenberg, chief executive officer of the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) states, “We’ve been very lucky to have terrific, engaged leaders of PPMA since 2001. Most recently under Missy Henriksen’s stewardship, PPMA has grown year-over-year, both in terms of size and message penetration, but our work is far from done. Thirty-seven percent of homeowners report using professional pest management services each year — which means we’ve got lots of frontier left to tackle.”
Henriksen, who has been at PPMA since March 2009, is headed to an allied industry: the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP), formerly known as PLANET. There she will serve as vice president of public affairs. “I will be creating the equivalent of the Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA) for them,” she told PCT in April.
Henriksen said at the time she was leaving PPMA purely for personal reasons. “My decision to leave is bittersweet. I have loved working with the professional pest management industry and am proud of the work we have done to impact consumers’ understanding of the industry; however, the opportunity presented by NALP was too good to pass up for my family and me,” she said. “I am really excited to be part of creating NALP’s consumer outreach initiatives from the ground up. They have a great story to tell — I am excited to help get the word out!”
Mannes said the opportunity to meaningfully contribute to industry growth is one of the key motivating factors in her decision to return to PPMA. “There is incredible opportunity for our industry, and I’m very motivated to continue to grow the residential business and more firmly establish our value proposition commercially. Missy has done an incredible job of introducing PPMA to more members of the industry and solidifying our consumer voice — it will be an honor to build on this work and continue PPMA’s success.”
Fortson added, “We are very grateful to Missy for her dedicated service, leadership and vision over the past seven years, and look forward to continuing PPMA’s incredible work under Cindy’s capable guidance.”
To learn more about PPMA visit www.NPMAPestWorld.org/PPMA.