Class of 2018
You would think after a mere 55 years on the job that Tommy Fortson would have it just about right.
And “having it right” is certainly the case for Fortson, who was the president of Terminix Service Inc. (TSI), a company franchise headquartered in Columbia, S.C., for 25 years before he stepped down about eight years ago. The Class of 2018 Pest Management Professional (PMP) Hall of Fame inductee’s son Scott succeeds him today as president and COO, whereas son Nelson is fleet manager and cousin Lex Knox is Chairman and CEO.
Not only is this Terminix franchise family-oriented, it is highly successful — with revenue of $125 million a year. Founded in 1947 as a franchise of what’s today known as Terminix International, TSI is considered to be Terminix’s largest franchise, perhaps the largest franchised pest management firm in the nation. Yet its 54 offices and 1,100-plus employees only do business in South Carolina, the western third of North Carolina, and five counties around Augusta, Ga. Its franchise agreement prevents additional expansion.
However, when this company got rolling in 1947, it was a long way from achieving any of these accomplishments. It all began when Fortson’s grandfather, Thomas P. Knox, pooled funds with his three adult children — T.P. Knox Jr.,
Marion Knox Sr. and Juddie Knox Fortson, Tommy’s mother — to purchase a franchise from Terminix. Tommy, who was 9 at the time, even recalls putting a $100 war bond into the pot.
His uncles, Tom and Marion, focused on the termite-centric franchise while young Tommy was in school. He was captain of the University of South Carolina’s swim team as a junior in 1958. But he left the university after his junior year to spend two years on a destroyer in the U.S. Navy. “That grew me up quick,” he quips.
Fortson came back to the university in 1961, where he met his wife, Pat. Within two years he got married, graduated and went to work for TSI. At that point, parent company Terminix, founded in 1927, was just starting to expand its termite control roots with general pest control work.
“I took a lively interest in that part of the company,” he remembers. “It really took off. But when I came there in 1963, it was like sticking your toe in the water.”
Fortson immersed himself in starting up the general pest control training programs for TSI, which at the time had only five branches.
“I had a slide show,” he explains. “We hired guys and got them into a motel room where I would show them the slide show. I sort of made myself a practicing entomologist.”
Fortson got a real shot in the arm when he and Bob Williams, who owned flagship franchise Allied Bruce Terminix Cos. in Mobile, Ala., started discussing quarterly pest control and a different service delivery system across Terminix’s many franchises. Fortson then designed a quarterly pest control system for his area of the country.
“We called it the ‘Key Man System because in this system, you do it all,” he says. “You service what you sell, and that includes termite and pest control work. Technicians need to take pride in their work.
“This system has been extremely successful for us, even today,” Fortson adds. “That has been a key to our success — plus the fact that we have hired tremendous employees, and had highly motivated leadership throughout.”
Fortson retired as franchise president in 2010, but remained active in the industry until 2017, when he stepped down from his 15-year post as chairman of the Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA), the public outreach arm of the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) that he helped found in 1997. Fortson is still an unofficial ambassador of the cause.
“The PPMA has been extremely successful for our industry,” he says with pride. “It has changed our whole industry positioning.”
Despite his retirement from TSI, Fortson remains active there, too. He turned 80 years old on Memorial Day with the words, “Thank God I was there to observe it.”