Troubleshooting and training

Jay Nixon

Jay Nixon, BCE, was born and raised in a small town in New Jersey. He loved the outdoors and was fascinated by snakes — so much so that when he went to college, he majored in biology.

“But there are only so many zoos that need snake specialists,” Nixon laments. Before he could launch his career after graduation, the Vietnam draft came calling. He trained as an Army medic, but spent a lot of time stateside at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Still, toward the end of his Army stint (1969-1971), he spent several months testing anti-venom formulations for Southeast Asian snakes to help soldiers in the field. He decided to then go to graduate school at the University of Maryland, and — thanks to some encouragement from a friend — Nixon earned a master’s degree in entomology in 1973.

INDUSTRY MENTORS

Nixon points to many mentors for his career, from the university’s Dr. Gene Wood, who steered him to his first industry post with a real estate inspection company, to fellow Pest Management Professional Hall of Fame Member Dr. John Osmun (Class of 1997).

“Dr. Wood started Maryland’s Interstate Pest Management Conference, which still goes on today,” he says.

He also counts then National Pest Control Association (NPCA, now Management or NPMA) Past Presidents Judd Pestana and Bob Jenkins Sr. among his mentors, because the two of them each took him under their wing to show him the inner workings of association operations. Pestana and Jenkins also welcomed Nixon and American Pest to the Associated Group, of which Nixon is a past president.

Nixon recalls fondly how, as an NPCA educational committee member (and later chair), he was teamed with Dr. Osmun, McCloud Service’s Pat Hottel, Plunkett’s John O’Reilly and other committee members to create training slides and materials for technicians seeking continuing education. “Our work formed the core of the NPCA’s training program until it was updated with videos in the late 1980s,” he says.

He also was the 1993-94 president of the NPCA. “One accomplishment I can claim there is the start of joint state membership,” he says. “It was my personal goal as I moved up the ranks from treasurer to secretary to vice president to president.

“I felt that it just didn’t make sense to have all these unrelated state organizations around, when we could all be united as chapters in the national association and more easily have our voice be heard.” During his tenure, Nixon convinced Maryland, Delaware and South Carolina to become joint-state associations.

COMPANY OWNER

In 1982, Nixon joined the American Disinfectant Co. as technical director. A few months later, in 1983, he and Bob Byrne, Bill Roll and Bob Wells pooled their funds to purchase the company from the widow of company founder Paul Cissel. “I was the youngest of our group by 11 years,” Nixon recalls, “and I learned so much from them.” The older three partners retired one by one, and Nixon became the full owner of what became American Pest Management (that he helped to rename in 1984) in 1997.

While today, Nixon is considered semi-retired from Fulton, Md.-based American Pest, an Anticimex company, he is hardly resting on his laurels. Nixon travels frequently as the contract entomologist for the U.S. Department of State.

And yes, there’s still his love for snakes. “It’s just a hobby these days,” Nixon admits. “But they still fascinate me.”