Class of 2018
Dr. Cisse Spragins, Class of 2018 Pest Management Professional (PMP) Hall of Fame inductee, knows how to make the most of an opportunity.
The founder and CEO of Rockwell Labs started her career in pest management working part time as a researcher at Bell Laboratories after a chance meeting with its owner. Less than 10 years later, her hard work landed her the newly created position of director of International Business Development. Although she could have remained with the rodent control product manufacturer, she launched her own pest control product company instead.
“More than anything, it was to prove to myself that I could do it,” she admits. “I had been thinking about it for several years and it got to the point that I didn’t think I could live with myself unless I did it.”
Dr. Spragins grew up on her grandparents’ farm in Jackson, Tenn. It was there she developed her love of horses and strong work ethic. She worked hard to ensure she could continue to ride, and later, compete.
After earning her master’s degree in chemistry in 1985, and her master’s degree in physics in 1988, Dr. Spragins met Malcolm Stack — founder of Bell Laboratories, PMP Hall of Famer (Class of 2004), and fellow horse lover — while they were showing their horses at an equestrian event.
They briefly chatted, and months later Stack contacted her with an opportunity to use her research skills at the company, a freelance project she took on part-time in 1989.
“I ended up staying at Bell full time because I found I really enjoyed product development and testing, and liked the company,” Dr. Spragins says.
She became research and development manager in 1991 and technical director in 1992. It was around 1993 that she began to pursue distribution opportunities outside of the United States for the company, a move that, over time, landed her a full-time position as director of International Business Development. She moved to England to set up an office for Bell Laboratories, and remained there until she left in 1998 to launch her own company.
Working for Stack provided a great learning opportunity; she left with a vast knowledge of rodent bait and bait stations. But she also experienced first-hand what makes a company successful. The ability to produce quality products is important of course, she says, but putting processes in place so they are delivered on time and with good customer service and support is important, too.
“I thoroughly enjoyed working at Bell, which was still a very entrepreneurial environment at the time,” Dr. Spragins says. “I was able to be involved, to some extent, in almost all aspects of the business.”
For years, she saved her money even though she had no real plan for exactly what she was going to do. She liked the pest management industry, so she started Rockwell Labs. She didn’t want to compete with her former employer, so she decided to focus on insect control products, beginning with insect bait stations, insect baits, and lures and traps. Since then, she expanded the product line to include bio sanitation products, insecticide dusts and botanical insecticides. Over the past 20 years, not once has Dr. Spragins regretted her decision to strike out on her own.
“I like the entrepreneurial and experimental nature of the industry, and enjoy producing products that are innovative and different, and then hearing what our ever-resourceful PMP customers do with them to solve their problems,” she says. “I’m grateful that a lot of folks in the industry are willing to be creative and try something different. Rockwell wouldn’t exist if there weren’t people in the industry like that.”
The North Kansas City, Mo.-based company employs more than 40 associates, plus seasonal workers. Each year, interns supplement the workforce. Dr. Spragins’ implemented a formal internship program at Rockwell Labs to encourage young women to pursue science and engineering careers. She offers summer interns paid employment if they want it, and students are given meaningful work in the chemistry lab and manufacturing area of the company.
In addition to running Rockwell Labs, Dr. Spragins is politically active in her home state of Missouri. She spent five years as chair of the Missouri Libertarian party.
She also is actively involved in the pest management related organizations to which she belongs. Currently, she is treasurer for the pest management industry’s fraternity, Pi Chi Omega, and is secretary and treasurer for the United Producers, Formulators and Distributors Association.
Throughout her 29 years in the pest management industry, Dr. Spragins has taken advantage of every opportunity that came her way, and she is proud of her accomplishments.
“There is really no greater joy for me really than hearing that a pest control company uses our products to help solve their problems and improve their business. The fact that quite a number of companies rely on our products for the service that provides their livelihood brings me great satisfaction,” she says. “A few years ago at PestWorld, someone walked by and said ‘Hi Cisse. Your products are so good it’s almost scary.’ That was just the most awesome thing to hear.”