The Virginia Pest Management Association

P.O. Box 7161, Fredericksburg, VA 22404
Toll free phone: 1-877-875-8722
Fax: 540-374-9221
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Kordek Awarded VPMA Industry Stewardship Award

VPMA celebrated a milestone at the Pest Fest event held in Richmond in conjunction with the State Technical Meeting. This year marked the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Virginia Pest Management Industry Stewardship Award. This award was created to recognize individuals for their outstanding service and dedication to the Association and the pest management industry.  This year the award was presented to Kevin Kordek, of A-Active Termite & Pest Control Co. This year's recipient will keep company with the likes of David Boose, Joe Wilson, Joe Lupini, Dick Whitman, Bert Dodson, Jr., Bobby Houchins, Charlie Church, John James and Dr. Eric Smith. Kevin Kordek stands out in our industry for his passion about ethics, integrity and the customer; for his ability to motivate and empower his employees; for his belief in the power of positive thinking to bring about positive results; and his tireless commitment to doing what he can to make our industry a better one to work in, to regulate and to do business with.  His personal motto is "If you help enough people in life get what they want; you will always get what you want"! Kevin Kordek was the truly derserving honoree of the VPMA Industry Stewardship Award.   He has been in our great industry for over 20 years, but for him, pest management is so much more than killing the bugs, it is about solving the problems of his customers, like they were his own.  He's never been afraid of hard work - and has been an excellent student of life.  He began his foray into the work world as a teen with a local farm and nursery in Northern Virginia.  Here he saw first hand how a company can grow and prosper.  Other early experience was gained working for a golf course, a convenience store, cutting firewood and working as a lifeguard and a waiter. It wasn't until he graduated with a BS in Biology, and began working in the pest control industry in 1984, that he found his true calling.  From graveyard shift technician to technical director and finally VP of Operations for a regional company, this year's industry steward has always been a leader, and a friend to his colleagues.  In 1995, armed with experience gained over a decade and the friendships of two co-workers, our award recipient bought a company and began to build Team A-Active.  Kevin sites a few major influences from the industry that helped shape the PMP and businessman he is today . . . and they all share the first name Joe.  Joe Wilson, Joe Gallagher, Joe Thomas and chief among the important Joes is Joe Lupini.  Mr. Lupini has been close to Kevin through everything during his pest control career. With farther reaching influence and much longer association, there is one person who stands above all as Kevin's guiding influence; his father, Commander Walt Kordek.  Because family has always been top priority for Kevin, it was quite fitting that Kevin's parents, Commander Walt Kordek and his wife Amy, were able to be present as Kevin accepted this award. While our recipients are chosen for their contributions to the industry, before expounding on these, it is most fitting to recognize Kevin's family because of their prime importance to him.  Kevin's wife of 22 years, Mary Beth, is truly his life partner, as well as his business partner.  They have three children, Kevin, Jr. who's 19, Elizabeth who's 17 and Brian who's 15.  In addition, Kevin has three siblings: Debbie, Theresa and Walter. Since 1995, A-Active has grown from a 1.5 route, 6 employee company with sales of $400,000 to a 16 route, 39 employee company with projected sales in excess of $4 million this year.  His wingmen, Jeff Johnson and Chuck Roach attribute the success of A-Active, in large part to Kevin's ability to "share the vision" with all A-Active employees on a weekly basis. Further, Jeff says that Kevin is not afraid to take a risk, and always makes the best of any situation. For many years, Kevin has shared his passion for the industry and his search for further education with VPMA.  He is a three term board member, past Grievance Committee and WDI Committee chair and a two term past president of our Association.  He currently serves as the chair of the Legislative and Regulatory Committee.  His current position marks 12 years of continuous service to VPMA. It was Kevin's passion for ethics, his leadership and conceptual vision that provided the driving force for the creation of the VPMA WDI Inspector Certification Program in 2000.  This program has certified more than 800 inspectors since its inception. In 2005, when VDACS identified pretreats as their #1 enforcement priority, again, it was Kevin's drive to improve our industry that had him at the helm of another major educational initiative undertaken by the Association.  Under his continued leadership, the Association has received two grants from the Pesticide Control Board worth over $125,000, to create a curriculum and present pretreat training throughout the state.  The push to finish the revisions to the pretreat manual and present the next round of pretreat workshops in November and March, is what is keeping Kevin up late at night now. During their development, these two programs became full-time jobs for Kevin.  But, he believed so fully in their value that he made himself available at any time to work on them.  And, they both continue to contribute greatly to the increased positive public awareness of the pest management industry in Virginia. Since 2004, Kevin has been serving on the national level as a director on the NPMA Board of Directors.  Additionally he serves on the Quality Pro Board of Directors and as a mentor in NPMA's Member Leadership Development Group.  In July of this year, Kevin was elected to serve as Secretary of the NPMA Board. Kevin has been honored with national speaking engagements for the EPA, Association of State Pest Control Regulatory Officials, the NPMA, various state and local pest management associations, and numerous professional property management associations.  He is passionate about the value of quality service as a differentiation point in the sales process; and speaks frequently on this topic.  Additionally he speaks on: Building a Company Culture, Pretreats and Novel Termite Detection. His speaking career got off to a bit of a rocky start, when in the late 80's he was making a presentation to 600 health inspectors.  Just as he began, the light bulb blew out in his slide projector, and he had no spare.  Since Kevin has never been short of words, the presentation went fine! Kevin is currently the president-elect of the Community Association Institute - another association that benefits from his dedication and passion. Aside from his great love and respect for family, his inspiring leadership for A-Active and his dedication to the industry that fuels his company's growth, he enjoys fishing, boating, scuba diving and golfing.  He loves to travel and spend time with his family and friends.  And because he doesn't have enough to do to keep him busy, he is writing a book entitled Where the Rubber Meets the Road, which incorporates some of the hard lessons he has learned and the insight he's developed through meeting and helping others. President Brian Delaney, with great pleasure and a profound sense of gratitude for all Kevin have given to our industry, presented Kevin Kordek with the 2007 VPMA Industry Stewardship award. Congratulations Kevin, it is well-deserved!