ALEXANDRIA, Va., September 15, 2022 – TRSA recently held its Annual Conference in Nashville, TN, where its new Board members for the upcoming year were announced.
Jim Kearns, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Alsco Uniforms, was elected chair of TRSA’s Board of Directors during the Annual Membership Meeting on September 15th. A graduate of the University of Utah, Kearns joined Alsco Inc. in 1993 as the internal audit director and advanced steadily to his current position in January 2019. Alsco is a global leader in uniform and facility service rental and has been since 1889. They provide these services to over 355,000 customers in more than 180 locations worldwide.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as TRSA Chair. Over the next two years, I’m going to focus on advocacy and the sharing of best practices to boost the industry as a whole. Our industry provides an essential service, and we need to safeguard the trust of our industry customer base and help solve problems with our products and services,” stated Kearns.
TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci offered an upbeat assessment of the new Chair, and thanked Kearns’ predecessor for their service.
“As the linen, uniform and facility services industry continues to pursue renewed growth in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have in Jim Kearns a well-rounded, seasoned executive with a demonstrated record of growth and a knack for working with companies large and small,” TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci said. “Our thanks go to outgoing Chair Noël Richardson for successfully leading us through the worst of the pandemic. We now look forward to continued progress with Jim Kearns guiding the association.”
In other news from TRSA’s Annual Membership Meeting, Randy Bartsch, CEO of Ecotex Healthcare Linen Service Corp, Vancouver, Canada, was elected Vice Chairman, while CEO of Dempsey Linen and Uniform, P.J. Dempsey, was elected Treasurer.
Additional directors elected during the conference included:
Pierre Ferron, President, Buanderie Blanchelle, Montreal, Canada
Bob Hager, President, Miller Textiles, Wapakoneta, Ohio
Jim Rozakis, President & COO, Cintas Corp., Mason, OH
Kelsey Van Miert, President of Customer Relations, Northwest Health Care Linen, Bellingham, WA
In addition, the TRSA Supplier Partner Council has submitted Rick Kelly, VP, Sales & Marketing, Pellerin Milnor Corp., Kenner, LA as the Director Candidate representing Hard Goods category and Jake Gurtler, Vice President, Corporate Accounts, Gurtler Industries, South Holland, IL, as the Director of Other Goods.
ABOUT TRSA TRSA (www.trsa.org), based in Alexandria, VA, represents the nearly $40-billion linen, uniform and facility services industry by promoting the economic and environmental benefits of reusable textiles. Our industry supplies, launders and maintains Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that supports front-line care providers, including high-demand Isolation Barrier Gowns (ISO), surgical gowns, scrub suits and cubicle curtains. PPE protects healthcare workers as they treat patients. TRSA verifies and quantifies our industry’s commitment to sustainability and cleanliness through its Clean Green and Hygienically Clean certification programs.