TRSA Elects Noël Hammer Richardson Chair

Posted October 22, 2020 at 7:54 pm


New TRSA Chair Noël Hammer Richardson addresses attendees of TRSA's Annual Business Meeting on Oct. 22. The meeting was held both in-person and virtually.


TRSA hosted the swearing-in of new officers and directors during the association’s Annual Business Meeting on Oct. 22 at its 107th Annual Conference in Alexandria, VA, as elected by a mail-in vote of a quorum of TRSA members.

Noël Hammer Richardson, president, CEO and owner, Shasta Linen Supply Inc., Sacramento, CA, has been elected TRSA’s chair for 2020-’22. “It has been my pleasure serving on the TRSA board and I am honored to be elected the first female chair in TRSA’s 108-year history,” Richardson said. “My father, the late Tom Hammer, served as chair for TRSA in 1989. He always talked about the importance of supporting our industry and giving back to the community that supports our businesses. Those are lessons that he passed on to me, and  I am very proud to follow in his footsteps and the footsteps of all the other chairs who have given their time and invaluable direction to our association.”

Richardson served as TRSA vice chair from 2018-’20. Shasta Linen Supply, a fourth-generation commercial laundry company founded in 1923, serves restaurants, healthcare and hotels in Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley. Under Richardson’s leadership, Shasta Linen Supply has earned the Hygienically Clean Healthcare and Food Service certifications in addition to the Clean Green certification for environmental stewardship.

Richardson is active in the Sacramento community, serving as a board member for the Center for Advancing Pain Relief at the University of California at Davis, School of Medicine. She recently joined the board of directors of El Dorado Savings Bank and is a past volunteer of Women’s Empowerment, a nonprofit organization helping homeless women in the Sacramento area.

Richardson has served on TRSA’s board of directors for the past seven years and has been active in a variety of TRSA task forces and committees, including TRSA’s Women in Textiles Committee (recently renamed and expanded as the TRSA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee).

Additional officers and directors sworn in during the Annual Business Meeting include:

  • Jim Kearns, Officer-Vice Chair, executive vice president, CFO and CAO, Alsco Inc., Salt Lake City
  • Randy Bartsch, Officer-Treasurer, CEO, Ecotex Healthcare Linen Services Corp., Vancouver
  • Vicky Cayetano, Director, president, Hawaii region, United Laundry Services Inc., Honolulu
  • Liz Remillong, Director, vice president, strategic alliances, Crothall Laundry Services, Scottsdale, AZ
  • Steve Sintros, Director, CEO, UniFirst Corp., Wilmington, MA

Officers are elected to one two-year term and directors serve a three-year term with eligibility for a second three-year term. In addition, Dan Farnsworth, vice president, sales and marketing, Leonard Automatics Inc., Denver, NC, was elected to represent supplier-partner companies for one three-year term.

Due to travel limitations because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the elections were held via mail-in and electronic balloting in September, with further discussion and confirmation on Oct. 22.

The TRSA board represents the industry’s most diverse, inclusive membership with more than 160 linen, uniform and facility services companies in North America, as well as nearly 40 companies operating outside of North America. In addition, TRSA membership includes nearly 140 supplier partners, who offer the industry’s most innovative equipment, chemicals, linens, uniforms, and other products and services.

Additional members serving on the TRSA board include:

  • Johanna Ames, president, Ames Linen Service, Cortland, NY
  • Brad Drummond, COO, Aramark Uniform and Career Apparel, Burbank, CA
  • J. Dempsey, president, Dempsey Uniform and Linen Supply Inc., Jessup, PA
  • Robert (Bob) G. Dudley, president, APPEARA, Norfolk, NE
  • Scott Finkelstein, co-president, Ace Uniform Services Inc., Baltimore
  • Tyler Fowler, president, M+A Matting, LaGrange, GA
  • Roger Harris, president & CEO, Metro Linen, McKinney, TX
  • Jose Luis Jacques, CEO, LAVARTEX SAPI de CV, Miguel Hidalgo, México
  • Juha Laurio, president & CEO, Lindström Group, Helsinki
  • Dan Sanchez, vice president, corporate sales, Medline Textiles, Mundelein, IL
  • Chris Sander, industry relations ambassador, Johnson Service Group PLC, Preston Brook, UK
  • Joe Sullivan, Spotless Facility Services Pty. Ltd., Melbourne, Australia
  • James (Jim) Vaudreuil, president & CEO, Huebsch Services, Eau Claire, WI

Bylaws Revision on Suppliers also Affirmed

In other action taken earlier this year, the TRSA board of directors voted unanimously to amend the TRSA Bylaws to better reflect the importance and support of our vendor/suppliers by changing the membership category from “associate” to “supplier partner” as an initial step, as well as a recent addition to TRSA’s mission statement, toward better integrating and representing their advocacy concerns. Pursuant to the TRSA Bylaws (Article XII, Section 2) this change was submitted for a vote and ratification by two thirds of the active operator members. TRSA members voted via mail-in and electronic balloting in September with further discussion and confirmation on Oct. 22.

To further enhance the value of industry suppliers in the association, TRSA also has created a new “Supplier Council” to replace the former Associate Committee model. The Supplier Council will provide a boost for the association’s supplier partners, giving them an expanded role in advocacy and association governance.

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