At just 14, Benny Romero started working as a lifeguard for AMS Pools in Suwannee, Georgia. Over the next few years, he steadily advanced from lifeguard to head guard, then to pool manager and finally to assistant area manager. In that role, Romero was responsible for overseeing 200 lifeguards and maintaining 12 large commercial pools, giving him his first real experience with pool maintenance, chemistry and equipment upkeep.
Makenzi Kinder joined Payan Pool Service in April 2023, making the move from Dallas to sunny San Diego just in time for a new adventure in the pool industry. Starting as a floater in the service department, Kinder filled in wherever help was needed while managing her small route. “I proved to all the boys I could keep up,” she says.
Deciding to take a break after college graduation, Renee Porter switched gears from her degree in science and went into commercial insurance. She started working for her “bonus mom,” Jeannette Blanton, in 2010.
Deborah Martin inherited a passion for pools from her father and uncle, and she couldn’t have wished for anything better.
Maria Fernanda Lopez Martinez’s professional path has been anything but ordinary. Her career began in gastronomy, where she spent eight years honing her skills in various restaurants, focusing on customer service and operations. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a career pivot into administration, where she applied her organizational talents in a fresh context.
When Sam Folaron was just 12, she started working in a pool store, cleaning, stocking shelves and learning the cash register.
Growing up in Puerto Rico, Omar Falcon spent weekends helping his father with his pool maintenance business.
What started as a way to make some extra summer cash for teenage Donny Rocovits, pulling pool lights and installing heaters, turned into a lifelong career full of passion.
Oliver Penn enjoys coaching and advising the next generation of pool builders.
During the pandemic, many people began looking at life differently. For Mackenzie Klahr — who spent nine years as a marketer in the construction industry and was a television news reporter before that — this introspection resulted in a career change.
Tracy Lingo’s fascination with the underwater world began long before she stepped into the pool industry. In 2013, she joined Hammerhead International, a company renowned for its underwater window installations.
In 2013, a chance opportunity arose when Josh Speyrer’s wife, who was then two months pregnant, was approached by a colleague about a promising Manager in Training Program at POOLCORP. Although she wasn’t interested, her referral led Speyrer to start the program at SCP in Mandeville, Louisiana, transitioning from a career in poultry to one in pools.