Mosquito Hero parent firm names new COO

Weed Man named Mike Richard, former national marketing director, as the new chief operating officer (COO). Among Weed Man’s sub-brands is Mosquito Hero.

Over the last 15 years, Richard helped franchisees grow exponentially in their marketing pursuits through the National Sales Analysis Program, which includes weekly conference calls, regular macro sales summaries and franchise system benchmarks.

Prior to his role at head office, Richard has seen the brand through a variety of positions from lawn care technicians, sales manager to eventually shareholder and general manager. He also ran a large multi-unit operation in Canada for nearly 10 years.

“Mike’s grown alongside Weed Man, and has always given his all to franchisees and the people within the company,” said Jennifer Lemcke, CEO of Weed Man. “Due to his tenure, experience, and high-level performance, it’s evident that he is the perfect fit for the COO role.”

In addition to Richard’s promotion, Erica Knapp, Weed Man’s digital and communications directors, was named the COO of TurfBot, a robotic mowing concept and sub-brand of Weed Man. Knapp has over 10 years of communications and digital marketing experience.

Weed Man has also restructured its digital marketing and communications department, promoting Tawnya Pappin to digital marketing and events manager and Crystal Shane to digital marketing strategist. The company will continue to add additional team members to accommodate the accelerated growth.

“As an organization, we’ve always focused on growth and opportunity for our people and believe in the power of promoting within,” Richard said. “Our franchisees do the same within their businesses, as they’re committed to expansion to keep upward mobility available for their existing team members, while acquiring new talent who want to grow with them.”

With the promotions, this places the people within the organization fixated on evaluating new company ventures and cascading resources to customer service efforts to keep the annual high-retention rates and enhance the online customer experience to help the franchise network.

About Weed Man

Founded in 1970, Weed Man is a network of locally owned and operated lawn care businesses providing environmentally responsible fertilization, weed control and integrated pestmanagement services. Weed Man launched Mosquito Hero in 2021.