Ron Rock opens 2026 NPMA Safety Summit

Opening remarks by Microshare CEO and Co-Founder Ron Rock

CHICAGO, April 15 – Wow. That is, literally, back breaking work. Let me introduce myself – I’m Ron Rock, CEO and Co-founder of Microshare, makers of the EverSmart Pest remote monitoring system. Now, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not a Pest Control Professional. I’m a software guy – emphasis on soft. The big injury risk in my career atrophy and maybe a paper cut now and then.

But, as our software has been adopted by more and more Pest Control Operators – including some, like Bill Hoffman and Adam Carace in this room – I’ve learned a great deal about this industry. And I know that many of you spent much of your working life bending down, crouching, kneeling and sometime crawling to check for rodent activity in one bait station and trap after another.

You’re probably in management by now, spared the worst of it. But you remember when, on some days at some site visits, you do these deep knee bends more than 100 times. And well over 70 percent of the time, the traps and bait stations you check have had no activity at all. It’s wasted time, energy and an unnecessary injury risk.

Now, as you get older, your back and knees start to ache and you start trying to protect yourself. You buy knee pads. You bring a step stool. You push the young guys to do it. But, in the end, the repetitive strain takes its toll.

Your boss is sympathetic but there’s a job to do, after all. After years of waning productivity, workers’ comp absences and even a surgery, you’re done. You’re retired in you late 40s on disability and, by 55, the walker is your constant companion.

The US pest control industry, according to insurance industry figures, spends over $100 million on workers’ comp and other injury-related costs. Yet there’s a way to make a good deal of this go away .It’s called “remote monitoring.”

I know all of you have seen and possibly even experimented with remote monitoring of the one-point-oh variety. Or maybe you have Bell IQ Bluetooth traps, which are not remote monitoring because you still have to go to the site to know what’s happening, but at least it will give you a hint about whether there was activity – whether you need to strain — to check the trap. That’s a lesser thing but still a good thing.

But, like I said, I’m a software guy, and we’ve been telling you for years what our software will do.

• It lets you retrofit your existing inventory of traps and bait stations.
• It uses AI to filter out false positives and bundle activity into tickets with recommended actions.
• It allows you to deploy sensors ‘Outside of the box’ for intel on activity in hard-to-access crawl spaces and drop ceilings – which, by the way, means less time on rickety ladders.
• And it shifts you to a 24/7, data-driven model that’s more effective in preventing and even predicting rodent behavior.

But, look, software guy that I am, I’m still learning from the PMPs. Last year, at a breakfast we hosted at PestWorld, I experienced one of these teaching moments. AJ Trevelen of Sprague Pest Services – whose dad Ross is in the room, I believe – said something that blew me and my team away. He said, “Look, I get all those benefits and they’re great. But the main reason I’m interested in this technology is to knock down injuries and my insurance budget line. Workers’ comp is a real issue, and a lot of it has to do with checking empty traps.”

AJ Trevelen is why Microshare choose to become the Platinum Sponsor of this event. We geeky software types have a reputation as know-it-alls, but I think you’ll find that’s not true of my crew. We’ve been hugely impressed by this industry, by its genuine desire to improve, to provide customers with the best service possible, and to embrace difficult concepts like Integrated Pest Management along the way.

There’s no silver bullet for IPM or eliminating injuries. But, as the white paper you can pick up at the EverSmart Pest booth over there will tell you, a lot of the suffering that repetitive strain causes Pest Management Professionals can be alleviated by integrating EverSmart remote monitoring data into your operation.

Dr. Bobby Corrigan, who is the Microshare senior advisor helping us constantly improve EverSmart Pest, told me he things our remote monitoring system is the most powerful tool IPM tool ever created.

We have dozens of customers on three continents who can attest to the transformational power of what we’re doing, not only for safety but also efficiency, customer satisfaction and predictive capabilities. And, by the way, for those of you staying for the Sustainability Summit, we have customers who have drastically reduced carbon emissions and fuel consumption with EverSmart Pest, too.

We would really love to help you get that journey started in your own operations. Please come see me afterward or speak to my team at the EverSmart Pest booth. They’re here the help.

Now, with no further ado, let me introduce our keynote speakers for today’s opening session, and the topic could not be closer to my heart:

“Reducing Risk in the Home Services Business.”

Joe Campbell is Senior Vice President of ABC Home and Commercial Services, a Texas PCO that ranks in the Top 30 in the USA by revenue.

Jeffrey Weisberg is Sales Manager at A-1 Exterminators, a major force in the Cape Cod area in Massachusetts. Gentlemen, the floor is yours!