Dominique Stumpf

As chief executive officer for the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), Dominique Stumpf is a ubiquitous presence in the pest control industry. She’s at the helm of an organization that serves nearly 5,000 members globally, and she’s been a part of its steady growth the past 25 years.

She’s broken barriers as the first woman to hold the title of CEO for the association, a role in which she is responsible for setting NPMA’s objectives and strategies for future growth, as well as the organization’s financial health, and building relationships with members, state associations, affiliated organizations and others.

As established as she is in the industry, Stumpf didn’t set out with this clear goal in mind. A strong work ethic instilled by her parents at a young age, along with a desire to forge her own path in a world outside the boundaries of her small-town upbringing, played a role in creating the leader she’s become today. But Stumpf sums up her career trajectory with one word: serendipity.

“People ask, ‘Is this what you always wanted to do? Have you always seen this path?’ And I think people are always surprised when I’m like, ‘No, not at all,’” Stumpf says. “I feel like I’ve had a lifetime of blessings that have aligned and come together because of who I am, the skills that I have innately and then [those] developed through education — or the school of hard knocks — and just seizing the opportunity, raising my hand and saying, ‘Let’s try it.’”

Formative Years

Stumpf was born in Ravenna, Ohio, and her family hails from Kent, Ohio. Her parents came from farming families before venturing away from their rural roots into the more urban Akron. Her father became an engineer, and her mother worked as an office executive. Stumpf and her twin brother Eric, whom she describes as her best friend, grew up observing their parents’ resilient work ethic.

“My dad had two, three jobs that he did when we were first born, and then my mom, once we were able to go to school, returned to the professional life, too,” Stumpf says.

The couple raised their children to be independent and create their own paths, she says. Stumpf was a Girl Scout through high school and spent years as a camp counselor at the Girl Scouts’ Camp Ledgewood. She and Eric got their first jobs at age 12, working a paper route.

The importance of commitment was instilled by her parents at a young age.

“[My mother] gave me the strength and the courage to know that I could try anything I wanted to try,” Stumpf says. “But the thing was, you were never allowed to just quit. Anything we ever wanted to do, there was a one-year requirement. As young kids growing up, you want to do a lot of things. My parents didn’t have the funds to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to do everything.’ They were like, ‘You’re not going to just say you’re going to do it and not be serious.’ If you did something, you had one year, so you better be serious when you say you want to do it. Everything we did was with commitment and perseverance to really make the best of it.”

In high school, Stumpf pursued track and swimming and was a member of the debate club, with a passion for history.

“Our path was really always clear that we would go to college, and that’s something that hadn’t happened in either of our parents’ families,” she says. “Our parents encouraged us to do that. It was an assumption, I suppose, that you’re going to do something different, bigger and better so you can have a better life than we had, or than what we had started out with.”

Stumpf attended Kent State University, where she studied history and political science with plans to go into pre-law. She joined ROTC, mostly because “I loved the structure,” she says. “And I got to meet a lot of wonderful people that really helped me build leadership skills.”

During her junior year, Stumpf moved to Washington, D.C., for six months for an internship at the National Institute of Justice, an arm of the Department of Justice.

Around this time, she watched the movie “Class Action,” a drama about a father and daughter, both attorneys, who take on opposing sides in the courtroom, and it illuminated the decision that law school wasn’t the right path for her. “I thought, ‘I don’t think I can be part of something where I know I’m going to have to defend people who have done wrong,’” she says.

Stumpf had been convinced she was going to be a lawyer since age 16. In recalibrating her next steps, she turned to the people surrounding her, asking, “What did you study? Where did you go to school? What programs did you do, and what do you do today?”

“Coming from a small town — not that Akron is super small, but there’s just not a lot of opportunities that are obvious — I really wanted to expand my outlook on what life could be,” she says.

After graduating, Stumpf worked as a branch manager at Enterprise Rent-A-Car for two years before returning to school at the University of Akron, where she earned her master’s degree in political science with a focus on campaign management. She moved to D.C. permanently in 1997.

Her first job there was with the Democratic Governors’ Association, but after six months, she realized her ideal career laid outside the political realm. That’s when she came across a job posting for an executive assistant/meetings assistant for what was then the National Pest Control Association (NPCA), now known as NPMA.

The Journey Begins

When Stumpf saw the job posting, she thought her skills could be a fit. “I had been exposed to events when I worked for the Democratic party because it was right after the election, and there were a lot of galas, events and conferences going on,” she says.

Stumpf started the job in May 1997 and, within two months, was sitting at the management table and actively engaged in the direction of the association.

“And that’s really where my path started,” she says.

That October was Stumpf’s first PestWorld, held in Minneapolis, and it was one to remember.

“My mind was blown,” she says. “I’d never been to a convention. I’d never been anywhere. I moved from Ohio. The only places I’d ever been in my entire life were Washington, D.C., Virginia Beach and Disney World.”

On opening day of the convention, the association’s director of meetings quit.

“That’s who I reported to directly,” says Stumpf. “It was probably traumatizing a little bit. But even at that age, I’ve always been like, ‘OK, what do we do next? Let’s fix it; let’s move on.’ I found out it happened, and I was called in, and they’re like, ‘We need you to do this.’ I’m like, ‘Do what?’ They said, ‘We need you to run the convention.’ I was definitely a doe in the headlights.”

She credits Rob Lederer, then executive vice president of the association, with guiding her and providing her with the resources and learning opportunities she needed to develop into her new role.

“I really found a niche for me personally, because I’m a very organized, detail person. I love to keep busy, and I love to inspire others in activities. And I’m a caretaker; that’s my nature. To be able to do something where I can put all of those personal skill sets into my profession was amazing. I started meeting the members and getting drawn in [to the] personal aspect of the people. I survived, obviously,” she says.

Stumpf was promoted to member services manager, and then director of meetings. She began attending state association meetings and managing the association’s board of directors relations. In 2000, she became vice president of conventions and professional development.

Around that time, Stumpf began working with the Professional Women in Pest Management, formerly a private, independent group.

“It was really important to me to create a space for women in the business to be welcomed and grow and to be able to attract more women to the industry,” Stumpf says.

She also worked closely with the Leadership Development Group, now the Leadership Networking Community.

“I was there from the beginning, and it was really about bringing in the next generation, developing the next gen for leadership and providing personal and professional growth, not bug talk,” she says. “It was something I could sink my teeth into. That’s when I began internally developing our culture and how we wanted to develop our team.”

In 2014, Stumpf was named NPMA’s chief operating officer. She was still managing the meetings portfolio, but also took on HR responsibilities and creating more processes for the association.

She also served as executive director for the Canadian Pest Management Association for about 10 years, which she says taught her about finance management and advocacy in the regulatory community.

The Road To CEO

In 2016, Stumpf was named NPMA’s CEO, an appointment the executive committee and succession planning committee had been deliberating since 2013.

Initially, says Russ Ives, NPMA president at the time, the selection committee discussed whether the association was best served by selecting an outside candidate. 

“But our discussions were swayed by the contributions Dominique had made to the association, the vision she had for its future and the preparations she had made to prepare herself for greater responsibility, as well as the internal support she had from coworkers,” Ives says. “It was a careful selection process that ultimately led to the right leader for NPMA.”

Stumpf describes achieving the role of CEO as “a hurdle.”

“And it was more the hurdle of showing myself and the people that surrounded me … that I could do something more. That was a constant, trying to establish myself outside of the previous view. You know, somebody looking at you and thinking that you’re a logistics person. Now, they need you to be a vision person. There’s been some things along the path that helped me be able to grow within that capacity, but also be able to demonstrate that ability.”

One such opportunity was restructuring NPMA’s membership dues through the Blue Ribbon Task Force.

All About The People

What’s kept Stumpf involved in NPMA for so many years? “The people,” she says. “The relationships that have been developed with members throughout the years and with the staff of NPMA. … Listen, every moment has not been easy. There have definitely been hard times. … It was always the people I went back to and said, ‘I’m going to try to see this moment through because I want to stay here for that.’”

She recognizes several professional influences along the way. From Judy Dold, owner of Rose Pest Solutions in Chicago, Stumpf says she learned how to find confidence in herself and her career. “She helps you fine-tune important leadership characteristics,” says Stumpf. “I really admire and appreciate all she’s done in that way, not just for me, but other women in the industry.”

Dold, in turn, describes Stumpf as “unusually dedicated to her constituents, to the membership at large and certainly to the people with whom she works every day.”

Stumpf cited Emily Thomas Kendrick, CEO of Arrow Exterminators in Atlanta, as another influence. “I love her enthusiasm and how she brings high energy to a room,” Stumpf says.

The feeling is mutual: “If I had 25 percent of the energy and endurance she has, I’d be thrilled,” says Kendrick, who has known Stumpf for 24 years. “I respect her immensely and look up to her very much. … No one is ever going to outwork her, and she’s been that way since the day I met her. When she commits to something, I can promise you it will get accomplished.”

Stumpf says Professional Pest Management Alliance Executive Director Cindy Mannes also has been a mentor. “In my younger years, I was probably a little bit more of a bulldozer, like, I’m just going to plow in and I’m going to get it done, but it may not be pretty. It might be a little rough around the edges,” Stumpf says. “I’ve been able to watch [Cindy] and learn from her style. It’s not just about what you do; it’s about how you make other people feel when you’re doing it.”

Stumpf also has a strong support system outside of the industry, including a solid network of friends, as well as her family, who still live in Ohio. “My father Ken passed away too soon, and this left a lasting desire in me to live, explore, seize the moment and, most of all, love those who you surround yourself with and make them a priority,” she says.

She describes her husband Matthew as her rock, adding that he has been “unwavering in his support of me, my journey and passion for NPMA.”

Finally, she credits the NPMA staff for the work they’ve done alongside her. “I’m blessed to work with amazing people and represent an amazing industry,” she says. “We do good things, and we do them well. I don’t do all that by myself. That takes a team of people who are really committed and passionate about what they do and the people they do it for.”

A Look Forward

Stumpf foresees a continued evolution of the pest control industry in the coming years, driven by changing demographics and NPMA’s Workforce Development Program to attract more people to the industry.

Her biggest passion, she says, is continuing to spread the message that pest control is a vital industry. “When I go out and speak with folks, it’s talking about professionalism and how people in this industry should be proud of what we do and how important it is,” she says. “If I can get somebody to walk home standing a little prouder and a little taller, that’s what I’m here for.”

She expects the continued acceleration of technology and envisions NPMA’s role as providing tangible guides to the industry in that process.

“I’ve also seen with the demographics shifting that people want to do business smarter,” she says. “They want to work shorter days, work smarter, but be more productive and more profitable. And they’re figuring it out. I think that’s what people are going to be aiming for. As an association, we have to help them navigate that path.”

Stumpf says the pandemic sidetracked her personal goals, and in the future she hopes to travel, feed her passion for history and even learn how to sail.

“My dream is to travel to a lot of different places in the world, like Egypt, Morocco, Jerusalem, Tibet,” she says. “I’d like to go down the Amazon River. The Nile. Anything with ancient history is fascinating to me.”

Professionally, she’s looking into executive business programs. “I’m one that’s always striving to learn and figure out ways [to] continue my growth pattern, and that’s what inspires [me],” she says.

Stumpf’s colleagues are just as eager to see what she does next.

“I truly believe she’s just getting started,” says Kendrick.

“She is special,” adds Mannes. “I am personally proud of where she has taken NPMA in her six-year tenure as CEO. She has built a strong executive team, a strong association team, and I do believe she has also built trust with her board that she will always do the right thing for NPMA and the industry.”