Pest control and academia have grown apart over the past 20 years, where the research being conducted by urban entomology labs does not directly address the needs of the indoor pest control stakeholders.  Therefore, I developed, organized, and ran a meeting involving 13 technical directors of pest control companies from around the country, along with my trainees (4 students, 1 post-doc, and 1 research scientist), to discuss the needs of the pest control industry.  During this meeting (the first of its kind), we generated a number of new project ideas and made sure the research being conducted  by the University of Kentucky aligned with the needs of the pest control industry, ensuring the University of Kentucky will be a leader in urban pest management moving forward.