A new CEO gets the title on day one. Earning the trust of the people doing the work takes longer, and Craig Honig went looking for it on foot. 

Honig became CEO of Servicon on May 4, 2026, succeeding Laurie Sewell, who joined Servicon more than two decades ago, has led it as president and CEO since the mid-2010s and currently serves as president of ISSA. Sewell remains with Servicon as a special advisor through the end of 2026. The Culver City, California-based company is family- and women-owned, an ISSA member and more than 50 years into providing environmental services, custodial and maintenance work for complex facilities in healthcare, aerospace, life sciences and the public sector. 

Honig arrived with 36 years in property and facilities management. He most recently served as president of the West Division at ISS Facility Services North America. Before that, he led integrated facilities management for North America at Cushman & Wakefield and spent more than a decade heading corporate real estate at Anthem, with senior roles at BGIS and SBM Management Services along the way. His start in 1990 came almost by accident, when friends pointed him toward property management. 

“I’ve run the work. I’ve bought the work. I’m excited to continue to lead the work,” Honig said. 

Walking the campuses first 

Following Sewell is no small thing. She has advised both Honig and the board through the transition. 

“There’s no way I could fill her shoes,” Honig said. “Well, one, I wear a size 12, but that’s beside the point.” 

His approach was to go where the work happens. In his first few months, Honig walked 12 to 16 of Servicon’s largest campuses with the operations team, talking with as many associates as he could and mostly listening. Action came after that, in measured doses. 

“Trust is not automatic just because I have the title. I have to earn that trust,” Honig explained. “They have to respect me and my decisions and the actions they see, not just from myself, but from my leadership team.” 

That meant resisting the urge many new executives feel to put a stamp on everything. If something isn’t broken, Honig noted, he doesn’t fix it. 

What a boardroom can’t show you 

Time on the front line changes how a leader frames a problem. A late crew or a wave of call-offs looks like a staffing number from a conference room. On site, it turns into a series of practical questions about commutes, clocking in, breaks and where supplies are kept. 

“It’s easy to make decisions sitting in a boardroom, but it’s really hard to understand what they’re going through unless you’ve lived it, unless you’ve taken the phone call as a supervisor or a facility manager,” Honig said. 

He has taken those calls. Years on the client side as a property manager, plus stints in-house and with suppliers, taught him that the reason a crew didn’t show often has little to do with the crew. 

Certification as a tested playbook 

Servicon holds ISSA’s Cleaning Industry Management Standard for Green Buildings (CIMS-GB) certification with honors, a designation it has renewed for years. For Honig, the value lies in having an outside party confirm what the company says about itself. 

“Working in our complex environment, it is critical that we’re compliant, that we’ve got standards and operating procedures, not just that we’ve built, but that third-party validation has confirmed we have those in place,” Honig said. 

The stakes are high. Servicon supports three of the top five defense companies in the world, several of the largest real estate services firms and some of the biggest hospitals in Los Angeles. Auditors talk with those customers during the certification process, and the customers see the results in day-to-day consistency. 

Certification also gives employees a clear plan when things go sideways. 

“Our industry, something always happens. There’s always a crisis,” Honig acknowledged. “Having that playbook validated and confirmed ensures we’re going to get that right.” 

Technology that earns its keep 

Honig admits he geeks out on tech. Before property management, he planned to sell mainframe computers, and he grew up tinkering on an Apple II Plus in the 1980s. Even so, he draws a firm line about its role. 

“Technology can’t be a burden. It’s got to complement the work,” Honig said. “Servicon’s not a tech company. We’re a really good cleaning company.” 

ISSA membership gives the company a look at what’s emerging in AI, robotics and workforce management tools. Servicon pilots new tools with on-site operations teams before anything rolls out. The company has built an ecosystem of best-in-class modules it can add as needed, with the focus on normalizing the data and getting real adoption at the site level. 

“If you’re a cleaner, you’re a frontline supervisor, if it’s a burden and you just want to clean, you’re not going to use it,” Honig noted. 

One lesson stuck with him from a prior role. During a capabilities review with a prospective client, Honig showed off labor data on an iPad. The client liked the presentation and then pointed out that none of it would clean the building’s porcelain. 

“So technology has to solve a problem. What problem are you solving?” Honig said. 

The proof shows up in adoption and in value customers can see. Above all, everyone has to go home safely. Productivity gains also help offset rising labor costs, a pressing concern for a company based in Southern California. The same thinking applies to floor equipment and timekeeping systems. AI deserves a serious look, in his view, but it can’t replace the workers themselves. 

The undercover boss test 

Honig has always wanted to go on Undercover Boss. With his photo all over internal materials, he probably wouldn’t stay anonymous for long. Still, he knows what he would watch for during a week on the front line, starting with how people are treated. 

“How is the communication from our supervisors, our area managers getting down and cascaded, that instruction to those associates? How are they onboarded? How does that make them feel?” Honig said. 

He credits onboarding for what he described as one of the lowest turnover rates in the industry. The first few weeks matter more than most leaders realize, he added, through the first several paychecks. 

From there, he would look at the daily grind. Do workers have to park in a remote lot and walk half a mile to clock in? Are carts stocked by the previous shift or left empty? Is the equipment Servicon selected helping people stay productive, or sending them home with repetitive motion strain? 

Quality checks are part of the picture too. Servicon audits the work, and that auditing runs through its technology as well. 

Honig pointed to a familiar idea often credited to Richard Branson: take care of your employees and they will take care of your customers. 

“We truly believe that,” Honig said. 

A safety net for every associate 

For other leaders, Honig’s advice starts with proximity. 

“You have to be on site. You have to be close to the work,” Honig said. 

He wants associates protected physically and psychologically, comfortable speaking up at any level and rewarded rather than reprimanded when they bring forward a grassroots idea. Servicon’s stated purpose is to elevate the industry and provide healthy environments where people thrive, and Honig sees the workforce as the way to get there. 

“It’s a people business. Our people truly drive why we’re here, why we’re all here,” Honig said. “Making their lives more efficient, safer, it’s a win-win for us.”