Professional Women in Pest Management out in force at PestWorld 2015

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October 21, 2015

Professional Women in Pest Management

The fantastic turnout at the Professional Women in Pest Management meeting.

The National Pest Management Association’s (NPMA’s) Professional Women in Pest Management (PWIPM) committee held its council meeting at PestWorld 2015 Oct. 21. The event was open to all female attendees, and the turnout was fantastic. So many women in the industry showed up, it was standing room only.

Attendees ranged from pest management company owners and operators to chemical company representatives to pest management technicians.

“It is awesome to see so many women in this room,” said Jennifer Leggett, Lindsey Pest Services, Jacksonville, Fla.

Dominique Stumpf, CAE, CMP, and NPMA chief operating officer, facilitated the meeting. “Women have been a very important part of this industry for a long time,” she told the crowd.

She said the organization will have a presence whenever the NPMA has an event. It will provide educational programming, host workshops at the NPMA’s annual Academy event, and participate at Legislative Days.

The PWIPM also offers an Empowerment Grant that is open to all women in the industry. This year’s recipient — Sheila Donatelli, certified trainer for Steritech, Charlotte, N.C. — was recognized at a PWIPM event held later that evening.

The women gathered were encouraged to share information about the annual scholarship with other women at their companies, as the funds may be used for continuing education.

Stumpf also discussed the objectives for the upcoming year. “Women will be make up more than 60 percent of the workforce by 2030, but this industry doesn’t reflect that,” she said. “We want to help the NPMA get more women in the industry.”

To help create tools that will get more women engaged, the women in attendance broke into groups to discuss how to get PWIPM’s message out. Recruitment tools, social media initiatives, and the facilitation of face-to-face meetings were among the possibilities explored.

To get involved, or to learn more about PWIPM, contact Stumpf at dstumpf@pestworld.org.

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