In this episode of the Pool Magazine Podcast, we sit down one-on-one with John Watwood, the President and CEO of POOLCORP, for a conversation about leadership, the state of the pool industry, and where the world's largest pool and outdoor living distributor is headed over the next few years.

Watwood's career with POOLCORP began more than two decades ago in the company's Manager in Training program, where he spent time learning the business from the warehouse and sales center level. After building his career outside the company, he ultimately returned to POOLCORP and has now risen to its top leadership position.

He takes the helm during a challenging period for the industry, with new pool construction under pressure and builders, service professionals, and retailers navigating a changing market. Watwood discusses what he's learned from spending his first months meeting directly with customers and employees, and why interfacing directly with the industry is central to his approach.

The conversation explores his game plan for moving POOLCORP forward: strengthening its role as a business partner, making the company easier to do business with, investing in technology and operational execution, and finding new ways to help pool professionals grow. Listen in on a candid conversation with one of the industry's newest CEOs about the challenges ahead, the opportunities he sees in the market, and the leadership philosophy he intends to bring to POOLCORP's next chapter.

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Pool automation is moving beyond simply turning equipment on and off. The next generation of connected products is being designed to provide better diagnostics, actionable equipment data, predictive maintenance, and new ways for pool professionals to manage service in the field.

In this episode of the Pool Magazine Podcast, we sit down with Jeremy Young, Director of Product Marketing for Automation at Fluidra, and Orlando Gadea, Vice President of Global Digital Marketing and Customer Experience for Fluidra, to discuss AquaLink Edge, Jandy’s next-generation automation platform, and Trackr IO, Fluidra’s new software platform designed to connect the equipment pad, the technician, and the office.

We dig into how smarter, interconnected equipment could reduce the industry’s reliance on tribal knowledge, shorten the learning curve for new technicians, improve troubleshooting, and give service companies better insight into how equipment is actually performing in the field. Young and Gadea also discuss the potential for predictive maintenance, more dynamic service routes, and a future where pool professionals can identify and respond to problems before the homeowner even knows something is wrong.

It’s an inside look at how connected equipment, automation, and software could reshape the way pool service companies operate.

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The Million Dollar Pool Design Challenge is back for its sixth year, giving designers the same client, property and ambitious project brief—and challenging them to show how they would solve it.

In this episode of the Pool Magazine Podcast, host Joe Trusty sits down with competition co-founder Mike Farley to discuss how the Challenge has evolved, why you don't have to be an elite designer to enter, and why Farley believes learning from other competitors can be just as valuable as winning.

Farley also breaks down this year's Siltstone Estate scenario in Louisiana, the challenges designers will have to solve, how design and visualization tools have changed over the years, and why competitors still need to show the thinking behind their work. The conversation also explores how the Challenge has helped designers grow their skills, gain industry recognition and, in some cases, turn a strong showing into new career opportunities.

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