Class of 2019
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.
A problem solver who is ready to help
Judy Black, who has been sharing pest control knowledge since college, is passionate about her work and the opportunity to mentor others in the industry
Judy Black, BCE, is the rare person who can be just as passionate about her job as she is her non-work pursuits. Talk to her about any of her recent adventure races, or even the Ironman event she completed in 2013, and she will bring it back around to a lesson learned in life and work: “Success depends on being incredibly disciplined: Plan ahead, and execute the plan.”
Black is VP of quality assurance and technical services for Atlanta, Ga.-based Rollins Inc., a post she took in January after three years with Rentokil Steritech and 21 more with legacy company The Steritech Group.
“I think people were surprised I left Colorado,” she says, noting her previous status as VP of technical services based in Broomfield, Colo. “But there’s a lot of great stuff to do outdoors in Atlanta — although my husband, John, and I think we might not hike as much in the summer heat. We’ll have the rest of the year to hike, though.”
The outdoors has long been a draw for Black, who grew up a military kid and lived all across the world. She recalls her first pest control experience, which occurred in the 1970s when her parents were doing what is now known as flipping houses. “Back then, it was known as buying a crappy house infested with mice, renovating it and selling it,” she says with a laugh.
“One day, when I was about 10 years old and my dad had already left for work and my brother for school, my mom woke me up and told me ‘There’s a mouse in the snap trap in the kitchen.
Before you go to school, do something with it!’” Black’s mother relied on her, she says, because “Mom knew I wasn’t afraid” to handle the mouse trap. “I picked the trap up gingerly, walked across our big front yard and threw it into the creek across the street,” explains Black, a former Girl Scout. “I guess Mom was my first grateful ‘customer.’”
In college, Black was leaning toward becoming a forest ranger, but a professor encouraged her to take a couple of entomology classes during her bachelor degree coursework.
The economy was ebbing, and she decided to go to graduate school. Black soon found herself as a teaching assistant in the entomology department at West Virginia University. Her focus was on agricultural entomology, but the pest control industry was starting its tug at her attention. Soon after graduation in 1986, she followed its lead and joined Terminix’s Pittsburgh, Pa., branch.
A PROBLEM-SOLVER AND MENTOR
Reflecting on her days of running a route — and more recently, conducting ridealongs with Orkin techs — Black sees some common threads. “No matter where you go, technicians are devoted to customers and really want them to be happy,” she says. “What I loved most about the work, both as a tech and as a manager, was solving the problem, especially on commercial accounts. At restaurants, for example, I always want to be able to say ‘My family could come eat here after I’m done with it.’”
But Black is quick to note that her career has been so strong — she served as president of Pi Chi Omega in 2016-18, was recognized as the National Pest Management Association’s Women of Excellence award winner in 2012, and received many other accolades — because she has had people in her corner rooting for her success.
“They are people who trusted me more than I trusted myself,” she adds. “They challenged me to be better and do more, and if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I’ve since tried to apply that to the people around me and who work for me.”
She definitely has delivered, as countless people in the pest management industry have learned from the expertise she willingly shares. “I’m thrilled to be a part of the Hall of Fame,” she says. “But the day someone I mentored gets recognized in the industry — and I know someday soon, it will come — that will be the icing on the cake.”
Quotes from fellow industry members
“Respect is the word that I have used to describe my relationship for Judy Black since the day I met her. Throughout my career, I strived to be involved in any team or project she was working on, and I fully believe that I would not have advanced to where I am today without the mentoring and support she has provided. Being inducted into the Hall of Fame is a well-deserved honor!”
—Desiree Straubinger, BCE, CP-FS, Market Technical Director, Rentokil North America
“Judy is considered a thought leader across the industry, and is always generous with her time and knowledge. She shares her expertise humbly with members through her work on committees, boards, and as a speaker on conference programs.”
—Dominique Stumpf, CMP, CAE, CEO, NPMA
“Judy’s and my career with Terminix overlapped in the early ’90s, when I became involved with all of the Terminix technical specialists. Judy was by far one of the best. She not only had great leadership skills, knowledge of insects and pest management, but more importantly, she was able to convey that education and training to others. Judy’s demeanor has not only enabled her to continue to bring success to those companies that have been fortunate enough to utilize her skills, but to our entire pest management industry, which has benefitted, too.”
— Norman Goldenberg, consultant and PMP Hall of Fame Class of 2008