Connection, Education Spotlight Women’s Forum

Down in the Queen City (Charlotte, N.C.) from May 19-21, the heat was hard to beat, and the conversations were engaging as hundreds of women and men gathered for the sixth annual National Pest Management Association (NPMA) Women’s Forum.

Growth, feedback, mentorship, belonging, impact and more themes headlined the three-day event that is built around networking and providing opportunities for women and men in the pest control industry to build leadership skills and create inclusive, empowering cultures at their respective companies.

This year’s Women’s Forum, which was premier-sponsored by Envu, kicked off with a welcome from NPMA CEO Dominique Stumpf and NPMA President Emily Thomas Kendrick.

Kendrick shared a story with attendees about how she attended NPMA PestWorld in 2000 in Las Vegas. Early one morning, there was a meeting scheduled for women in the industry set in the basement of a casino.

“I go down there the next morning, and I am all ready to go and there were seven of us just staring at each other. And now, look at this — this is awesome!” Kendrick told the audience. “So, several hundred women showing up to change an entire industry. I can’t even…”

Kendrick asked Women’s Forum attendees where they were joining from and one participant said she had arrived from India, reflecting the industry’s global influence.

Stumpf also announced during the welcome presentation that the first day of the Women’s Forum (May 19) marked her 29th anniversary in the industry.

“I walked into this industry not knowing exactly what I was getting into. And what I didn’t expect was how much I would fall in love with the people and the work we do,” Stumpf said. “And this forum really matters. … Being a part of something where you can empower, inspire and motivate others, other women, to believe that this is an industry where they have a strong home. It really means a lot to me.”

THE VALUE OF CONNECTING. Following words from Kendrick and Stumpf, Allen Langley, president of the North Carolina Pest Management Association (NCPMA), joined the stage also to welcome attendees and congratulate the 2026 NPMA Impact Award recipients.

“As president of NCPMA, it’s truly an honor to welcome such an outstanding group of professionals from across our world and industry,” Langley said. “Your presence here reflects the continued growth, leadership and professionalism that makes the pest management community so strong.”

To end the welcome portion of the event, Devon Carroll, chief of staff, Envu, gave a powerful speech sharing her experience navigating the green industry and specifically the male-dominated turf/grass market.

When Carroll attended Penn State University for her undergraduate degree, she was the only woman in the turf/grass cohort of 100 students. Despite being a supportive cohort, she still had experiences that made her second-guess pursuing a career in that industry.

“Less than a year from graduation, I found myself questioning if continuing in the turf/grass industry was right for me despite having a successful academic career and promising career ahead,” Carroll said. “Serendipitously, I was attending my first national industry conference at the time and there was a women’s forum like this one on the agenda, and one of my professors urged me to go and I’m really glad I did because attending that meeting changed my life.”

Carroll then introduced the event’s first keynote presentation, sponsored by Envu, which was titled “The Relatable Leader” and given by Rachel DeAlto, a communication and leadership expert. DeAlto walked attendees through the importance of leaders connecting with their team and how even a little bit of connection can create trust and make people feel purpose in their work.

“Connection matters. There is a value to connection, and there is a cost to disconnection,” DeAlto said. “Connected teams are more productive, they’re more innovative, creativity rises and people don’t leave because they feel like they are a part of something.”

IMPORTANCE OF MENTORS. On May 20, the second day of NPMA Women’s Forum 2026, Deni Naumann, executive director, Naumann & Associates, kicked off the day with a session about mentorship. Naumann explained the benefits of an efficient mentor-mentee relationship and how attendees can successfully develop their own connections with professionals they want to support or receive support from (see related story, below).

Another headlining moment of the event was the recognition of the 2026 NPMA Impact Award recipients. The Impact Awards celebrate women in pest management and their contributions to their companies and the industry. This year, 108 women received Impact Awards and during the award presentation, sponsored by FieldRoutes, NPMA rolled out a red carpet for honorees to walk down when their name was called. Award winners high-fived and hugged their colleagues and friends before walking across the stage to be recognized.

An additional opportunity many attendees took advantage of were three breakout sessions. Participants were able to choose from a session about artificial intelligence (AI) in the industry, another related to career advancement or one geared toward finance basics. 

The learning didn’t end there. To round out the sessions for the second day, Marci LaRouech, CEO, Seay HR, gave the presentation “Building Belonging in Male-Dominated Teams” and shared her experience in those spaces. “It’s really important that we feel like we don’t have to do this alone,” LaRouech told the audience. “We should be building belonging together from a relational standpoint.” 

A LIVELY DISCUSSION. The final day of Women’s Forum 2026 on May 21 helped attendees shift their mindsets in the workplace. A lively keynote, “Make Difficult People Disappear,” was delivered by Monica Wofford, CEO, Contagious Companies. Wofford explained that while it’s natural for people to have colleagues they find difficult, it’s also important to consider the differences in personalities those team members bring to the table and how they benefit businesses.  

Instead of making people physically disappear, Wofford taught participants about the importance of changing their perspectives about their “difficult” colleagues to reduce stress and conflict. People should reflect on whether a certain colleague (or colleagues) is actually hard to work with, or if their personality and work method are just different, Wofford explained.

As the Women’s Forum 2026 concluded and people look forward to the event next year in Las Vegas, attendees were able to reconnect or meet for the first time, learn about leadership and celebrate women in the industry. 

“I think that the women that have been here have been such a wonderful group of strong women of every part of the pest control industry, and that’s been my experience from the first year I attended to this year,” Julie Tesh-Clark, chief communications officer, Pest Management Systems (PMi), told PCT. “It’s just incredible to see all these women that have worked so hard and done so many great things for our industry get recognized for their contributions.”

The author is assistant editor of PCT.