Newsmakers

Union Drycleaning Products USA has provided the International Fabricare Institute with an L850 drycleaning system to be used in testing of GreenEarth solution.

IFI said the new machine, in conjunction with a previously installed Realstar machine, is helping the research department ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the GreenEarth cleaning process. Details about the machine and test results will be part of the GreenEarth Fellowship report which will remain confidential until testing is finished.

The photo, taken during the start-up of the Union GreenEarth Solutions Drycleaning System at IFI headquarters in Silver Spring, MD shows, from left, Timothy F. Maxwell, field representative for GreenEarth Cleaning, Jim Carroll, Union’s national sales manager, and Frank Emanuale of District Equipment, Union’s distributor in Maryland, Northern Virginia and Washington, DC

Columbia Drycleaning Machines took top honors in the category Trade Publications — Less than Four Color at the Pace Professional Ad Club East Award show held in Greenville, NC. The Pace Awards are sponsored by the American Advertising Federation.

Columbia won gold awards fort the total campaign and the individual ad “Nice Clean Profit.” Columbia also won a Silver award for the ad “Ironic.”

“We're extremely proud of the advertising work we’ve done over the past year,” said Columbia president Stephen Langiulli. “We believe we’ve come a long way in strengthening Columbia’s positioning in the category. It is tremendous to be recognized creatively, but more important, the advertising has led to sales improvement.”

The campaign was developed and placed by Lewis Advertising Inc., a full-service advertising agency headquartered in Rocky Mount, NC, with offices in Raleigh, NC, and Nashville, TN.

Phil Greer, senior vice president at Lewis said, “Our job is to develop a positioning brand that is unique to Columbia. Stephen (Langiulli) and the rest of the group made our job easy by understanding the importance of developing a brand personality that focuses on the benefits and allowing us to push the envelope creatively.”

The Columbia work will next be entered in the District AAF Awards.

Paul Chun has joined the sales staff of Kelleher Equipment Supply, Inc. A native of Korea, he moved to the United States in 1976 and is a graduate of the University of California-Irvine. He speaks three languages — Korean, English, and German. He also holds a real estate license. Before joining Kelleher, he was a sales representative with United Fabricare Supply.

He can be reached at (800) 842-0188 or (714) 595-3629.

R. J. (Bob) McGee has joined the sales staff of B&G Lieberman and will cover the states of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. McGee has 40 years of industry experience. He was as a representative for the Thompson Hayward Co. where he worked until it closed in 1990. Most recently he represented both Banasch out of Cincinnati, OH, and Mustang Enterprises of San Antonio, TX.

Larry Burstein will continue to serve customers in the San Antonio and Austin, TX, areas.

Lynn Amatore, president of Lehigh Valley Drycleaning in Easton, PA, will be honored this month as one of Pennsylvania’s Best 50 Women in Business for 2002.

The award is presented by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Winners are chosen based on professional and business accomplishments and advocacy in the business community, particularly on behalf of women.

A dozen members of the Coin Laundry Association were honored for outstanding contributions to the coin laundry industry in 2001.

Every year, CLA presents a Member of the Year Award for significant contributions that benefit the association. Historically. Winners of the award usually are active members who have made an extraordinary volunteer effort for the industry. This year’s recipient was Greg Tompkins, president of TNT Suds LLC in Walla, Walla, WA, Tompkins was an active participant in his service to the CLA board and was a large factor in the launch of the Washington state affiliate of CLA.

Leadership Awards, which are given to CLA members who make an effort to support the industry and its members or demonstrate leadership by volunteering their efforts toward a specific project or effort that serves to benefit the industry, was bestowed to four members.

Recipients included:

Michael Weldy, president of Laundry Connection, LLC, a brokerage firm based in Scottsdale, AZ. Weldy also serves as president of the Arizona affiliate of CLA.

Donna Miller, owner of Frenchtown Launderette in Frenchtown, NJ. She is the past president of the New Jersey affiliate of CLA and is a wash-dry-fold expert who has spoken at various CLA workshops and conventions.

Lisa Christy, owner of Soap n’ Suds, in Stockbridge, GA. She is the secretary of CLA’s Georgia affiliate organization.

Bill Reed, distributor and vice president of Daniels Equipment Co., Inc., out of Auburn, NH.

CLA also presented Distinguished Service Awards to three board members in their final terms of on the board.

Honored were Jeff Deal, president of Hamilton Engineering, Inc., in Livonia, MI; Sumner Greenberg, president of Alsan, Inc., in Quincy, MA; and Lamar Thomas, president of T&L Equipment Sales Co., Inc., in Charlotte, NC.

Gary Gray, president of Fun Wash, Inc., in Little Rock, AR, received the 2001 Outstanding Director Award for contributing heavily and “going the extra mile” in service of the CLA board.

The Founders Award, given to recognize an individual’s lifetime contributions to the coin laundry industry, went to Dave DeMarsh, distributor and president of BDS Laundry Systems in St. Paul, MN.

The Outstanding Affiliate Award was presented to Ken Cherry, president of the Tennessee Coin Laundry Association.

Rounding out the award winners was Rick Rawlins, manufacturer and president of R&B Wire Products in Santa Ana, CA. He was presented with a Chairman’s Plaque in recognition and appreciation of his dedicated service as the CLA Chairman of the Board.

Hamilton Engineering recently graduated another class from its sales certification school at corporate headquarters in Westland, MI. Distributors from around the U.S. attended the program which covered all aspects of water usage and heating, water treatment, fuel bill analysis and efficiency improvement calculations.

The next round of classes will be in early June. Hamilton distributors should contact the company, (734) 419-0200, if they are interested in attending. Hamilton provides water heating packages, water treatment systems and technical services for the laundry industry worldwide.