A handful of the drycleaning
industry’s most knowledgeable experts will be heading to
Las Vegas this summer to assist IFI with its Clean ’03 educational
offerings.
Leading the way will be IFI CEO Bill
Fisher, who kicks off IFI’s programming with a look at
“Why the Best Are Better” on the morning of Monday,
August 11.
The half-hour discussion will begin at 8
a.m. and focus on how IFI members can get the most out of their
trade association membership.
Fisher, who is responsible for
coordinating the operations of IFI and implementing the
policies of its board of directors, first joined the
association (then known as the National Institute of
Drycleaning) in 1965 as a member of its research department.
He became the association’s director
of research in 1976, earning responsibilities of contacting
federal agencies on issues related to carcinogenicity,
hazardous waste, air and water pollution, and care labeling.
In 1995, he climbed to the rank of CEO and
has since instituted many new programs and services for IFI in
the past eight years. Presently, his other duties include
director of the Fabricare Foundation and Chair of Clean
’03.
Following Fisher’s session will be a
detailed look at “Problem Garments: A Riches to Rags
Story — How to Avoid an Unhappily Ever After
Ending” with Chris Allsbrooks. She will discuss many of
the new garments entering the market and provide tips on how to
avoid unpleasant cleaning mishaps and angry customers at the
counter.
Allsbrooks is in her tenth year as a
textile analyst for IFI’s International Textile Analysis
Laboratory. She has appeared on several television news
programs, including ABC’s “Good Morning
America,” and is often quoted in popular fashion
magazines such as GQ and Glamour on fabric-related issues.
A well-received speaker at several
industry seminars and conventions, Allsbrooks has also taught
classes at SDA’s school at the International Textile
Center on the campus of Texas Tech University. She earned her
bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising and textile
marketing from the University of Maryland, College Park.
On Tuesday, August 12, IFI will present a
two-hour program from 8 to 10 a.m. on “Give It to
’Em How They Want It!” A guest panel of
speakers will show attendees how to meet customer expectations
by revealing useful information discovered in the recent
consumer survey conducted by the Fabricare Foundation.
Panel members will include: Laura Barron,
Pat Godo, Richard Gritz and Mike Nesbit.
Barron is president of The Barron Group, a
consulting firm founded in Tennessee in 1994 that provides
consulting, customized seminars and workshops. She has a B.S.
and M.B.A. from the University of Tennessee and is a
professional member of the National Speakers Association. She
was once selected as the 1990 National Business Woman of the
Year by the American Business Women’s Association.
Godo is the immediate past president of
the Southwest Drycleaners Association. Prior to entering the
drycleaning industry in 1967, she utilized her accounting and
business background to work as an office manager and a national
comptroller for a national firm for 15 years. She currently
oversees the operations of three production plants with various
call offices and residential routes in her capacity as
president of Avon Cleaners in Dallas, TX. She is also a
director on the Fabricare Foundation.
Joining Godo and Barron on the panel will
be “Buddy” Richard Gritz, vice president of the
MidAtlantic Association of Cleaners and member of the IFI Peer
Review Committee for technical education for the Alexandria
school board.
He joined his father-in-law, Harold
Weisblut, at Presto Valet in Alexandria, VA, in 1967, following
a 7-year stint with the U.S. Air Force. Gritz has a degree in
financial management from the University of Maryland and is a
graduate of the National Institute of Drycleaning’s 139th
general drycleaning course.
Rounding out the expert panel on customer
expectations is Mike Nesbit, CED, who currently serves on
SDA’s board and consults nationally and internationally.
He began his career in the drycleaning industry in 1976 when he
started one Nesbit Cleaners plant in Spring, TX. Since then,
the business has expanded to include nine plants and 13
substations. He is a founding member of the Tuchman Training
Systems Management Group.
“Your Employees Do Make A
Difference” will be the topic of a two-hour panel
discussion from 8 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday, August 13. Experts
Ted Barry, Angel Suarez, Dan Martino II and Heath Bolin will
inform attendees how to reduce their employee turnover and
motivate their staff members to increase production.
Barry is the vice president of operations
for John Barry and Associates, a management-engineering firm
based in Newport Beach, CA.
For 50 years, the company has assisted
cleaners and commercial and hotel laundries all over the
country on ways to improve their operations. Barry has earned
an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University and a B.A. from Gonzage
University.
Starting in his family business in 1981
alongside his mother, Angel Suarez moved up from his position
as spotter and drycleaner to the ranks of management. In 1983,
the family acquired another cleaning business —
Rey’s Cleaners in Coral Gables, FL — which Suarez
bought sole ownership of five years later. Now, he
operates two stores and three delivery routes with a staff of
50 employees.
Martino, a third generation cleaner from
Kenosha, WI, began working at his father’s plant,
Martino’s Master Dry Cleaners, when he was only nine
years old. Over the years, he’s focused largely on the
customer service aspect of the business and has managed
operations for Martino’s six locations. He has degrees in
business administration and English, and has attended
IFI’s Advanced Drycleaning course in Silver Spring, MD.
The final employee motivation panel member
is Heath Bolin, president and sole stockholder of Sparkle
Cleaners, Inc. in Tucson, AZ.
Sparkle is the largest cleaner in the area
with 135 employees and 14 drycleaning stores. Heath first
entered the industry 11 years ago with Craig’s Cleaners
in Houston, TX, where he gained management experience under the
tutelage of plant owners Bob and Harry Craig.
Five years later, he moved on to Beaumont,
TX, to be the general manager of Munro’s Dry Cleaning
Company. Currently, he is on the board of the Western States
Dry Cleaning and Launderers Association.
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