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TRSA 'Blending' with UTSA on Track, but More Work to Be Done, Officials Say

News From Clean '09

NEW ORLEANS — Members of the Textile Rental Services Association of America (TRSA) gathered here Wednesday afternoon for their first annual meeting since TRSA and the Uniform & Textile Service Association (UTSA) began to reorganize last year.
Outgoing TRSA Chairman of the Board Greg Jeltema, new Chairman Jeffrey Wright and President/CEO Roger Cocivera acknowledged that while much work on the “blending” has been completed, there is more yet to do.
Wright shared his goals for the coming year:
• Continue to integrate the two associations. More than 90% of former UTSA members have signed on to TRSA, he says.
“We have created the world’s largest textile services association,” says Wright, executive vice president and chief financial officer for G&K Services. “We now serve over 1,000 plants and 125,000 employees.”
• Develop stronger government affairs capabilities. To that end, TRSA has hired a new vice president of government affairs to oversee lobbying efforts in Washington. Raising funds for TRSA’s political action committee will also receive greater emphasis.
• Continue to improve safety programs.
• Promote the textile services business as a “green” industry.
• Achieve economies of scale as an industry.
Thomas Coyne, Coyne Textile Services, received the Textile Rental Member Achievement Award, the association’s highest honor. Coyne has served as chairman of the board for both TRSA and UTSA over the years, Cocivera says. Coyne told the audience he was humbled by the honor.
Jorn Munch Jensen was the recipient of the Rudolph “Rudy” Maglin Associate Member Achievement Award. He was ill and couldn’t attend. Accepting on his behalf was his son, Jesper Jensen, CEO of the Jensen Group.
 
 

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