The Pest Management Professional (PMP) magazine staff is pleased to present the PMP Hall of Fame Class of 2019. These five deserving individuals will be inducted in a special ceremony and dinner celebration on Oct. 14, 2019, in San Diego, Calif. They are as follows:
Orlando Alonso built a successful pest control company, National Fumigating Co., in Cuba, but he and his family left it all behind to emigrate to the United States in 1961, to flee Fidel Castro’s rule. With the family finding itself in Columbus, Ohio, Alonso took a job as a termite technician at Columbus Pest Control, rising quickly through the ranks. In 1971, two years after Owner Joe Mooney’s death, Alonso purchased the company from Mooney’s widow. By 1977, however, Alonso suffered a stroke and other health issues — and named his 21-year-old son, Lonnie, to run the company.
Lonnie was up to the challenge, and at age 63 is working alongside sons Andrew and Brian to continue Columbus Pest Control’s legacy. By the time Orlando Alonso died in 2002, both father and son were well known and respected throughout the pest management industry, especially in keeping up with state and national regulatory affairs. Lonnie is currently the Ohio state policy affairs representative (SPAR) for the National Pest Management Association.
Black is currently vice president of quality assurance and technical service of Rollins Inc., Atlanta, Ga. Her career stretches back to several years as vice president of North American technical services for Rentokil-Steritech. She also served as chair of the National Pest Management Association’s (NPMA’s) technical committee; director of the certification board for the Entomological Society of America (ESA); and immediate past president of industry fraternity Pi Chi Omega. In 2012, she received the NPMA’s Women of Excellence Award. Black is known for her training and industry stewardship throughout the pest management industry.
Dr. Miller is an urban pest management specialist for the Commonwealth of Virginia at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, Va. In July 2018, she was honored with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development’s inaugural “Healthy Homes Hero” award. This is just one of many formal and informal accolades she has received for her work focusing on optimizing cockroach baiting in urban housing. In addition, Dr. Miller is working on assessment-based pest management (APM) for bed bugs.
Mueller, a 1975 Purdue University entomology graduate, founded Insects Limited in 1982 with a focus on researching, testing, developing, manufacturing and distributing pheromones and trapping systems for insects in a global marketplace. Before the U.S. methyl bromide phaseout began in 2005, Mueller and his team worked tirelessly to find alternatives, so that food commodities could be protected for public health. This now-retired businessman, entomologist and Eagle Scout spent his career looking at ways to provide successful pest management and prevention with fewer chemicals.
Please join us in congratulating our 23rd class of the PMP Hall of Fame. You’ll learn more about these five titans of industry as the months progress. If you have memories and stories to share about any of them, please email pmpeditor@northcoastmedia.net.
These nominees were voted in by a nine-person, industry-led committee based on the merits of their careers and accomplishments. Profiles of each nominee will be featured in the September issue of PMP Magazine, which will also host an invitation-only, black-tie dinner and induction ceremony on Oct. 14, 2019, in San Diego, Calif., the night before the National Pest Management Association’s (NPMA’s) annual PestWorld conference. Afterward, a plaque of each inductee will be added to the literal Hall of Fame that resides at Purdue University.
We’re currently accepting nominations for the Class of 2020 and beyond. You may nominate a pest management professional of any walk of life — business owner, technician, researcher, manufacturer, etc. The inductees from the first 20 years of the Hall of Fame are also profiled in Titans of Industry, available in the PMP bookstore here.
Our PMP Hall of Fame event would not be possible without the generous contributions of our sponsors: Platinum sponsor Bug Off Pest Control Center; Cocktail Hour sponsor J.T. Eaton; and Gold sponsors BASF, Control Solutions Inc., Kness, MGK, Nature-Cide, Neogen, Oldham Chemicals, PelGar USA, PestPac, Purdue University, Rockwell Labs Ltd, ServicePro and The Aust Group.