Articles – Industrial Public Venues Transportation & Retail Cleaning

Building Companies and Opening Doors: Meet the Two ISSA VEO Visionario Award Winners

By |2026-10-12T10:11:59-05:00October 12, 2026|

Building a successful cleaning company is one accomplishment. Keeping it growing year after year is another. Helping other people build their own futures along the way is what the ISSA VEO Visionario Award was created to recognize. Nancy Galván, founder and CEO of Unica Enterprises in Dallas, and Veronica Vidal, founder and CEO of Custom ...

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The Half-Life of Expertise: Why Learning Matters More in the Smart Building Era

By |2026-10-12T10:17:57-05:00October 12, 2026|

Continuous learning helps facilities and cleaning professionals make better decisions about smart building technology. As sensors, robotics and artificial intelligence change how services are delivered, teams need enough digital understanding to assess suppliers, use operational data and judge whether an investment improves performance. Why smart building skills need updating There was a time when expertise ...

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How to Turn Government Contracts Into Growth

By |2026-10-09T10:41:49-05:00October 9, 2026|

Eric Marceleño went to work for his wife’s janitorial company in February 2016. He didn’t wait until morning to start working. “The night that I was hired, we got immediately to work, stayed up to about two or three in the morning, contacting contracting officers by email, text and just trying to market the company, ...

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ISSA’s Emerging Leaders Bring Real Stories and Practical Insights to ISSA Show North America

By |2026-10-10T05:09:50-05:00October 8, 2026|

Two years after ISSA named its inaugural class of Emerging Leaders, honorees are returning to the ISSA Show North America (register here) show floor to discuss what that recognition set in motion. Ashley Butler, vice president and general manager of GP PRO, a division of Georgia-Pacific, and Konstantin Ekelman, sales director at Imperial Brady, share ...

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From Custodian to CEO: A Family Legacy Built on Showing Up

By |2026-10-08T10:55:47-05:00October 8, 2026|

In 1985, fresh out of Santa Clara University, Ernesto Moreno told his father he would be a janitor. Armando Moreno had spent 35 years as an educator and school administrator, and he believed deeply in higher education. His answer is now part of family lore: “If you are going to be a janitor, be a ...

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Leverage, Language and a Bigger Table

By |2026-10-07T12:25:44-05:00October 7, 2026|

Victor Lizano has spent more than 30 years in financial services, much of that time working alongside small and medium-sized businesses as a banker, mentor and advisor. Today he applies that experience to the cleaning industry as co-owner and general manager of Amazing 360 Commercial Services, LLC, the Indianapolis-area company he runs with his wife. ...

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When Growing a Company Means Growing Yourself

By |2026-10-06T10:33:44-05:00October 6, 2026|

Nancy Galván started Unica Enterprises in 2007 with a business plan, a pile of debt and no clients. Nearly two decades later, the Dallas-based facilities services company employs more than 185 people and serves DFW Airport, local municipalities and federal agencies across North Texas. At the 2026 ISSA VEO Conference in Dallas, where Galván was ...

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Why Comfort Is the Real Crisis

By |2026-10-02T04:45:09-05:00October 1, 2026|

Debbie Sardone never set out to build a business. Early in her marriage, she and her husband were poor enough to qualify for government assistance, though pride kept them from accepting it. He worked three jobs and eventually went back to the police department for a steady paycheck. She started cleaning houses out of the ...

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From the Cart to the Corporate Office

By |2026-09-30T16:26:37-05:00September 30, 2026|

Frontline turnover in commercial cleaning runs at an estimated 200% a year, and each departure costs roughly $3,500 to replace. Labor is already the largest expense for a building service contractor. Channing Johnson, president of KB Building Services in Nebraska, considers turnover the industry's biggest problem and one it rarely puts enough effort into solving. ...

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When Debt Becomes a Growth Tool

By |2026-10-01T10:26:14-05:00September 29, 2026|

Plenty of cleaning business owners take pride in owing nothing. They’ve paid off the trucks and equipment, and nobody at a bank has a say in how the company runs. Steve Mastin, chief financial officer of 4M Building Holdings in St. Louis, knows owners like that. He described a friend, a local businessman who pays ...

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