Finalists Are Set for Founders’ Award, FieldRoutes Excellence Awards

FieldRoutes and Aspire will present their inaugural Excellence Awards during a ceremony showcasing customer success at Ignite on Aug. 26-28 in Orlando, FL.

"We appreciate our customers' partnership with us, and we look forward to celebrating with them at Ignite," said Mark Tipton, CEO for FieldRoutes and Aspire. 

"I love that we get to work for contractors, some of the hardest-working people on this planet. They do so much to make our lives more enjoyable."

The company values for FieldRoutes and Aspire – to boldly innovate, put others first, drive success, and finish strong – form the foundations for the awards. Nominations were submitted during the summer in the weeks leading up to Ignite, which will attract hundreds of customers in addition to business partners of FieldRoutes and Aspire.

Get to Know the Finalists of the Ignite 2024 Customer Awards

They've taken software designed to make their lives easier and developed even more efficiencies for their field service companies and for their employees.

They've worked with the software company's teams to offer invaluable feedback and guidance to entrench those platforms as leaders in their industries.

And they've championed their relationships with us to colleagues in the profession.

Becky Bailey, of Ground Pros Inc.; Bob Grover, of Pacific Landscape Management; and Breanna Neerland, of Kwik Kill Pest Control, are the three finalists for the inaugural Founders' Award, which will be presented to one recipient as the special honor at the first Aspire & FieldRoutes Excellence Awards ceremony on Tuesday at Ignite.

In addition, Aspire and FieldRoutes will present four awards each that are inspired by the company core values: boldly innovate, put others first, drive success, and finish strong. Recipients will be announced for the Trailblazer Award, Impact Award, Rookie of the Year Award, and Excellence Achieved Award.

Nominations were submitted by companies and by Aspire or FieldRoutes team members.

Continue reading, meet the finalists for the Founders’ Award and the four other FieldRoutes awards, and see why we are thrilled to celebrate our customers.

Founders’ Award

The Founders’ Award, which will be presented to an Aspire or FieldRoutes customer, will culminate the ceremony at the Orlando World Center Marriott.

The Founders’ Award will recognize an individual who embodies the true spirit of the company's core values over a period of time. This person will be recognized for their immeasurable contributions to their industry, to their community of peers, and to the people and communities around them. Their work could include activism and support within the industry; mentoring and coaching; furthering the causes of their industry across communities; and establishing an indelible legacy.

Meet the finalists

Becky Bailey

Senior finance associate

Ground Pros Inc., Itasca, IL

About the finalist: "Becky has become the MVP of our team, particularly with her instrumental contributions to our successes in leveraging the Aspire platform.

"One of Becky’s standout organizational improvements involved creating a 'No Ticket Left Behind' process for our operations teams. Through various ticket lists and regularly scheduled ticket meetings, this streamlined workflow has not only improved our operational efficiency but also significantly reduced the turnaround time for invoicing. And as an added benefit, this process provides real, in-the-moment training for our operations managers who have come into the organization at different times and may have quite varying levels of training within Aspire.

"Becky regularly works with our leadership team and Aspire customer success rep to use her unique ability to drive fundamental shifts within GPI, both financially and operationally. Her creativity and forward-thinking approach have set a new benchmark in how Aspire can be utilized to achieve business success, making her an exemplary candidate for the Founders’ Award." – Stacy Stroh, Ground Pros branch manager 

Bob Grover

President

Pacific Landscape Management, Hillsboro, OR

About the finalist: "Bob is a long-time advocate for the landscape industry and Aspire software. He was an angel investor, and his company was an early adopter of the software. He and his team have provided valuable feedback and insight into how the software is applied in commercial landscaping applications and has helped to shape the system we utilize today. Bob and Kevin had a very close relationship, and Bob is the perfect inaugural recipient of the Founders' Award." – from the nomination.

Breanna Neerland

Operations manager, managing partner

Kwik Kill Pest Control, Madison, WI

About the finalist: "Breanna has helped our Implementation process. She was willing and able to roll her sleeves up and dig into migrating from ServSuite to FieldRoutes. She has been a great advocate to her employees to get them on board learning the software. She has also been loudly positive to other customers on the transition. She is a great resource and will talk to anyone about their experience."

FieldRoutes also will present four Excellence Awards. Meet those finalists:

Trailblazer Award

Boldly innovate.

About the award: This award recognizes a current FieldRoutes customer – an individual, team, or organization – who has adopted the FieldRoutes platform in such a way to support a unique aspect to their business or drive success in a unique and new way. The winner will have used the FieldRoutes software, and possibly integrations or partners, in a creative way beyond traditional use cases in pest control. The results led to fundamental shifts – either financially, operationally, structurally – or brought a new aspect to their business. 

Meet the finalists

Daniel Farah

Chief administrative officer, Ridd Pest Control, Lehi, UT

About the finalist: "Dan Farah has a diverse work experience spanning multiple industries, with Daniel currently holding the position of chief administrative officer at Ridd. Ridd Pest Control has won awards for fastest-growing and most trusted company over the past few years. Dan's previous software development experience and partnership with FieldRoutes have helped the company continue to grow and become an industry leader in innovation." – Ridd Pest Control nomination.

Natalie Hart

Office administrator

Arrow Termite & Pest Control, Baton Rouge, LA

About the finalist: "Natalie has been instrumental in helping us understand how we should revamp areas of the software to help users remain compliant with strict state guidelines. She has played a key role in helping us improve our conversion process and how we import data. She is a pillar in her community and in the industry." – Arrow Termite & Pest Control nomination.

William Jones

Owner, operator, technician

Got 'Em Wasp & Hornet Removal, Grand Rapids, MI

About the finalist: "I examine every survey to know what we did well and how we can use that information to help better a service and outcome while on site. I have nothing less than a five-star survey, with this being our third year in business. Utilizing the scheduling tools is super-important. I can customize timeframes to work out what's best for our customer base. I pride myself in giving a world-class service, without rushing their services. Since we have been with FieldRoutes, our customer base is continuously growing. Our customers feel much better about having a customer portal and an online payment option. Our goal is to use our profits to help the homeless in our community to have what they need and to help train future technicians who truly wish to learn a valuable skill in pest management, all while saving as much of the ecosystem as possible." – William Jones.

Impact Award

Jeff Schumacher

President

All-Safe Pest & Termite, Plano, TX

About the finalist: "Jeff consistently has the best interests of his customers and staff in mind. Their family business values of putting customers first have earned them great loyalty and trust from the community they serve." – from the award nomination.

The Team

Natural State Pest Control, Lowell, AR

About the finalist: "Natural State Pest Control was founded on the principle of helping people, so we constantly look for ways to live our mission and serve those within the Northwest Arkansas community. As a company, we live by our mission statement: We kill bugs. We help people. Period. We believe in serving our customers, community, and employees through our commitment to ethical practices, outstanding service, and philanthropic efforts.  

"Every year, we award the Benn Banks Memorial Scholarship to a deserving local high school student-athlete. This honor is about much more than academic achievement. The recipient must also display high levels of character, a commitment to the team, the ability to inspire others, and courage during times of adversity. Benn Banks continued to demonstrate each of these exemplary qualities despite his daily battle with cancer, and it is an honor to keep his name alive through this award. We also work with several non-profit organizations such as New Beginnings, NWA Food Bank, 7Hills Homeless Shelter, Salvation Army, NWA Children’s Shelter, DHS, CASA, and many more to provide affordable, and sometimes free, pest control services. We also partner with public school systems in Northwest Arkansas and the VA Hospital to help individuals in our community who are facing life-altering pest issues. We encourage our community partners to send referrals our way when someone has a pest problem and does not have the means to take care of it on their own. Every December, we have our Twelve Days of Pestmas promotion to assist families in need in NWA that cannot afford professional pest services. We take care of them completely free of charge because every family deserves to have a pest-free Christmas. Natural State also hosts a community blood drive every year. In 2024, we hosted our very first 24-hour Smoke-A-Thon, benefiting Second Helping NWA. Our team stayed up all night smoking turkey breasts, chicken, and pork to sell to the community, and we donated 100% of the proceeds to feed families in need. 

"Company culture is another way that NSPC puts others first. Because we expect outstanding performance from our team members, it is critical that we demonstrate our commitment to our employees in return. Throughout the year, we host family dinner nights, take our team members and their families to private movie screenings, provide catered meals, have an annual company basketball game, and offer monthly and quarterly incentives for our employees. Some of these rewards are goal-oriented, while others are simply to say ‘thank you’ and boost morale. Our annual company fishing trip is the grandest gesture of appreciation and commitment to our employees. All staff members are invited to attend a full-expense paid trip to Cranor’s White River Lodge in Cotter, AR, for a fun-filled weekend of fishing, kayaking, delicious food prepared by a private chef, and relaxation. This experience is a time to unwind in the great outdoors and bond with teammates outside of the office." – Brittney Oakley, director of marketing, Natural State Pest Control.

Fred Willey

Invader Pest Management, Glendale, AZ

About the finalist: "Fred is, by all definitions, a true leader. He guides other companies and takes them under his wing. Fred is a founding member of the FieldRoutes Pathfinder Network, and some see him as the unofficial leader. In addition, Fred Willey is among the founders of the Arizona Pest Professional Organization, serving for three years as its first president, and in 2022 the organization enshrined him in its Hall of Fame." – from the award nomination.

Rookie of the Year Award

Drive success.

About the award: This award will go to a FieldRoutes customer who is driving early success with our software. They've pushed and armed their team to adopt FieldRoutes early and often, completing implementation on time and adopting major modules out of the gate. In addition, they crafted and implemented an internal plan to train and drive adoption by your members, across functional areas and levels of the business. The Rookie of the Year Award recipient has built a solid foundation for long-term success.

Meet the finalists

Mike Davey

IT director

Main Line Brands, Charlotte, NC

About the finalist: "Main Line Brands was founded in 2020 and operates in more than 850 franchise territories nationally. Mike Davey's contribution to ensure the successful execution of projects by identifying challenges and developing creative strategies to maximize success have demonstrated a positive impact on all their franchises. Mike is one of the many brilliant minds in our industry. He understands the back end and the front of how systems work. More importantly, it is a rare skill to be able to take data and turn it into a story, and Mike demonstrates that daily." – from the award nomination.

Melanie Espinola

Operations manager

General Environmental Services, Malden, MA

About the finalist: "We joined FieldRoutes in 2023 and never looked back. When I transferred the software, I took two weeks off work and worked from home around the clock to make sure the transfer of the previous software to the new software would be a success. And it was. I also trained all of the staff on how to use and the techs on their handhelds. We have worked hard to make FieldRoutes a success for us and are learning more each day." – Melanie Espinola.

Markus Konietzka

Business analyst

ACTION Termite & Pest Control, Phoenix, AZ

About the finalist: "I started using FieldRoutes as a technician, gaining a field perspective. As a tech, I felt that the software allowed me to do my job much more efficiently. I was later promoted to routing manager and developed a routing system within FieldRoutes that started saving our company approximately 20% on gas costs in the first few months. I now work with FieldRoutes as a business analyst, primarily manipulating the reports generated by FieldRoutes to assist us and our partners in making actionable decisions. With the data available in FieldRoutes, I have been able to identify multiple patterns and relationships that have allowed us to understand our business at a much higher level." – Markus Konietzka.

Excellence Achieved Award

Finish strong.

About the award: This award will recognize a FieldRoutes customer who is finishing each year stronger than the last through organic growth and expansion. By integrating FieldRoutes in their daily operations and company’s services offerings, they are seeing impactful and incremental growth financially, geographically, or through new or expanded offerings. The recipient and their team have created a strategy and corresponding plan to drive continued growth and efficiencies in multiple areas of their business. This has been done through improved internal processes, sales, and operations but also might have leveraged one or more technology integrations with FieldRoutes products or related technology partners.

Meet the finalists

Laura Gergle

Vice president of project management

Pest & Termite Consultants, Raleigh, NC

About the finalist: "Laura has had a gigantic impact on the pest control industry.  She has worked for several pest control companies and is an all-in-one powerhouse. She focuses on M&A and helps clients find long-term homes for their customers. She recently won an award from the NPMA called Impact Award for Women in Pest Management. Laura is a shining example of why this industry will continue growing and impacting so many lives." – David Vitale, director of operations, Pest & Termite Consultants

Kyle Selbach

Director of operations

All "U" Need Pest Control, Fort Myers, FL

About the finalist: "Kyle's background ranges from biology to sales. He has played a huge part in growing All 'U' Need into multiple branches with well over 100 employees. Kyle's journey has focused around setting up his teams to be empowered, grow internal processes, and constantly wowing their customers." – nomination from All “U” Need Pest Control.

The Team

Alta Pest Control, Austin, TX

About the finalist: "Our company has experienced remarkable growth and success over the past decade: PCT Top 100 the past three years (ranked No. 30; among the biggest movers within the top 100) and Inc. 5000 for six years in a row. Now supported by a private investment firm. Our partnership with FieldRoutes has been a key driver of these achievements. We have not only grown financially (revenue gains of 1,000% over three years) and geographically, but we have also expanded our footprint and service offerings significantly. By integrating FieldRoutes into all of our daily operations, we have seen impactful and incremental growth across multiple areas of our business. (Among Alta's changes are streamlined operations, enhanced data management, targeted marketing campaigns, sales process enhancement, and service diversification, also resulting in improved customer satisfaction)." – Aaron Curtis, customer experience officer, Alta Pest Control.