diff --git a/root.go b/root.go
index 14bcd63..ee4ea88 100644
--- a/root.go
+++ b/root.go
@@ -23,25 +23,35 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"syscall"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/Sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/cpuguy83/strongerrors"
-	homedir "github.com/mitchellh/go-homedir"
+	"github.com/mitchellh/go-homedir"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/viper"
+	"go.opencensus.io/trace"
+	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/fields"
+	kubeinformers "k8s.io/client-go/informers"
+	corev1informers "k8s.io/client-go/informers/core/v1"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
+
 	"github.com/virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet/log"
 	"github.com/virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet/manager"
 	"github.com/virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet/providers"
 	"github.com/virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet/providers/register"
-	vkubelet "github.com/virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet/vkubelet"
-	"go.opencensus.io/trace"
-	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
-	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
+	"github.com/virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet/vkubelet"
 )
 
 const (
 	defaultDaemonPort = "10250"
+	// kubeSharedInformerFactoryDefaultResync is the default resync period used by the shared informer factories for Kubernetes resources.
+	// It is set to the same value used by the Kubelet, and can be overridden via the "--full-resync-period" flag.
+	// https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/v1.12.2/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/v1beta1/defaults.go#L51
+	kubeSharedInformerFactoryDefaultResync = 1 * time.Minute
 )
 
 var kubeletConfig string
@@ -60,12 +70,17 @@ var k8sClient *kubernetes.Clientset
 var p providers.Provider
 var rm *manager.ResourceManager
 var apiConfig vkubelet.APIConfig
+var podInformer corev1informers.PodInformer
+var kubeSharedInformerFactoryResync time.Duration
 var podSyncWorkers int
 
 var userTraceExporters []string
 var userTraceConfig = TracingExporterOptions{Tags: make(map[string]string)}
 var traceSampler string
 
+// Create a root context to be used by the pod controller and by the shared informer factories.
+var rootContext, rootContextCancel = context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+
 // RootCmd represents the base command when called without any subcommands
 var RootCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Use:   "virtual-kubelet",
@@ -74,9 +89,9 @@ var RootCmd = &cobra.Command{
 backend implementation allowing users to create kubernetes nodes without running the kubelet.
 This allows users to schedule kubernetes workloads on nodes that aren't running Kubernetes.`,
 	Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
-		ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+		defer rootContextCancel()
 
-		f, err := vkubelet.New(ctx, vkubelet.Config{
+		f, err := vkubelet.New(rootContext, vkubelet.Config{
 			Client:          k8sClient,
 			Namespace:       kubeNamespace,
 			NodeName:        nodeName,
@@ -86,6 +101,7 @@ This allows users to schedule kubernetes workloads on nodes that aren't running
 			ResourceManager: rm,
 			APIConfig:       apiConfig,
 			PodSyncWorkers:  podSyncWorkers,
+			PodInformer:     podInformer,
 		})
 		if err != nil {
 			log.L.WithError(err).Fatal("Error initializing virtual kubelet")
@@ -95,10 +111,10 @@ This allows users to schedule kubernetes workloads on nodes that aren't running
 		signal.Notify(sig, syscall.SIGINT, syscall.SIGTERM)
 		go func() {
 			<-sig
-			cancel()
+			rootContextCancel()
 		}()
 
-		if err := f.Run(ctx); err != nil && errors.Cause(err) != context.Canceled {
+		if err := f.Run(rootContext); err != nil && errors.Cause(err) != context.Canceled {
 			log.L.Fatal(err)
 		}
 	},
@@ -176,6 +192,8 @@ func init() {
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().Var(mapVar(userTraceConfig.Tags), "trace-tag", "add tags to include with traces in key=value form")
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&traceSampler, "trace-sample-rate", "", "set probability of tracing samples")
 
+	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().DurationVar(&kubeSharedInformerFactoryResync, "full-resync-period", kubeSharedInformerFactoryDefaultResync, "how often to perform a full resync of pods between kubernetes and the provider")
+
 	// Cobra also supports local flags, which will only run
 	// when this action is called directly.
 	// RootCmd.Flags().BoolP("toggle", "t", false, "Help message for toggle")
@@ -251,11 +269,30 @@ func initConfig() {
 		logger.WithError(err).Fatal("Error creating kubernetes client")
 	}
 
-	rm, err = manager.NewResourceManager(k8sClient)
+	// Create a shared informer factory for Kubernetes pods in the current namespace (if specified) and scheduled to the current node.
+	podInformerFactory := kubeinformers.NewSharedInformerFactoryWithOptions(k8sClient, kubeSharedInformerFactoryResync, kubeinformers.WithNamespace(kubeNamespace), kubeinformers.WithTweakListOptions(func(options *metav1.ListOptions) {
+		options.FieldSelector = fields.OneTermEqualSelector("spec.nodeName", nodeName).String()
+	}))
+	// Create a pod informer so we can pass its lister to the resource manager.
+	podInformer = podInformerFactory.Core().V1().Pods()
+
+	// Create another shared informer factory for Kubernetes secrets and configmaps (not subject to any selectors).
+	scmInformerFactory := kubeinformers.NewSharedInformerFactoryWithOptions(k8sClient, kubeSharedInformerFactoryResync)
+	// Create a secret informer and a config map informer so we can pass their listers to the resource manager.
+	secretInformer := scmInformerFactory.Core().V1().Secrets()
+	configMapInformer := scmInformerFactory.Core().V1().ConfigMaps()
+
+	// Create a new instance of the resource manager that uses the listers above for pods, secrets and config maps.
+	rm, err = manager.NewResourceManager(podInformer.Lister(), secretInformer.Lister(), configMapInformer.Lister())
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.WithError(err).Fatal("Error initializing resource manager")
 	}
 
+	// Start the shared informer factory for pods.
+	go podInformerFactory.Start(rootContext.Done())
+	// Start the shared informer factory for secrets and configmaps.
+	go scmInformerFactory.Start(rootContext.Done())
+
 	daemonPortEnv := getEnv("KUBELET_PORT", defaultDaemonPort)
 	daemonPort, err := strconv.ParseInt(daemonPortEnv, 10, 32)
 	if err != nil {