"I also would like to recognize the co-chairs of the Associate Relations Committee, Dale Schmitz and Vicki Simmons. They have done a wonderful job in coordinating the efforts of these sponsors to better serve the membership.

"All of the IFMA officers and committee co-chairs have dedicated their time and efforts to improving our chapter. Because of this, we have improved communications and offered many additional resources to our members. Take the time to tour our Web site and see our newsletters, forum job searches, and resume posting areas.

"I thank you all for your help and look forward to the coming year as your president."

Black also announced there will be no September chapter event because of World Workplace 2001, which will be in Kansas City from September 23-25.

Plaques were presented to Initiator level sponsors. They are:

Dan Binford & Associates, Contract Interiors/Knoll, Thomas Ruff, DuPont Flooring Systems, Construction Systems, Chemical Abstracts Service, Herman Miller, Continental Office Environments, NBBJ, Ohio Support Services, Ohio Custodial Maintenance, and Turner Construction.

Framed certificates were presented to Facilitator level sponsors. They are:

Mannington Commercial, Robert S. Davis, Frank Messer & Sons, Designed Moves, Inc., Fiber Seal of Central Ohio, Excel Interiors, Inc., Capital Services, Inc., Nationwide Insurance, Trane Company, Williams Environmental, King Business Interiors, Bill Thomason & Associates, Commercial Movers, Inc., Singer Wallcovering, and National Realty Services.

Certificates were presented to Associate and Manager level sponsors. They are:

Associate-Mohawk Commercial Carpet, Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, Network Office Clearinghouse, Cort Furniture Rental, Accent Drapery Co., Inc., and Armstrong floors.

Manager-F.F. Leonard, Inc., Globe Instant Office, Clara Brown Interiors, Central Business Group, Frederic M. Timm, Globe Business Resources, and HAWA, Inc.

Friendship has paid off professionally for Brittany Hauptman, interior designer with Fanning/Howey Associates, Inc., and co-chair of the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter's Program Committee.

It was a friend who told her of an opening for an internship at The Ohio State University where she was working on a bachelor of science degree in interior design. She entered the intern program in the university's Department of Housing, Food Services and Event Centers and came under the tutelage of Molly Ranz, director of facilities administration and long-time IFMA member.

Hauptman stayed with the university until March 2000 when another friend "heard of a position as interior designer with Fanning/Howey. He had given them my name so I called, submitted an application, and got the job," she said.

While at the university, Hauptman worked as a design intern for a year until she graduated in 1998. She became an interior design associate following graduation and was working as an interior designer when she left the university.

Fanning/Howey is the national leader in educational facility design and ranked No. l in the design of primary and secondary schools in the nation. The company, headquartered in Celina, with offices in Indiana, Florida, Michigan, and Virginia, also provides landscape architects and technology designers in association with its school projects.

Hauptman left Ohio State for an opportunity to do more interior design work, which is what the position with Fanning/Howey presents. She works with architects on interior finishes of the buildings, equipment layouts, furnishings, and custom casework design.

The 60 employees at the Dublin office split Ohio work with the Celina office, but Hauptman has been associated with projects in New York and other areas. She is currently working on school additions and renovations in Albany, Ohio, near Athens, and a new elementary school in Medina.

Ranz introduced Hauptman to the Central Ohio Chapter: "I knew Molly was a member. She invited me to a program and recommended that I get involved," which she did.

Hauptman is involved in a big way, serving as co-chair of the Program Committee, but "going it alone" since co-chair Stephanie Patton took maternity leave a couple of months ago from her position at NBBJ.

Nevertheless, Hauptman maintains, "Serving on the Program Committee is fun because we get to help plan the programs for the chapter. And since there are a lot of things going on in Columbus, it makes it pretty easy." Yet, she is anxiously awaiting the Patton's return.

Hauptman also said IFMA membership "has given me an opportunity to meet a lot of people and to learn from them. The membership is diverse, but we are all in the same industry, just doing different things."

Other loves in Hauptman's life are her husband, Scott, who is employed by Nationwide Insurance, and volleyball. At Ohio State she was a member of USA Volleyball, a university club team that traveled and played against other club teams in the Big Ten and Mid-American conferences and in national tournaments. Today, she continues to play in a USA volleyball league and participates in beach volleyball at the Bogey Inn.

The Hauptmans live in northwest Columbus.

Sponsor Spotlight Mannington Commercial

Joyce and Don Cavin not only know the meaning of teamwork, they probably could write a book about it.

The Cavins are district managers for Mannington Commercial, a division of Mannington Mills in Salem, N.J., and the only flooring company in the U.S. that offers carpet, residential and commercial resilient sheet, vinyl composition tile (VCT), wood, and laminates from a single source.

They are one of three husband-wife teams employed by the company nationwide and are responsible for a sales territory that extends from Columbus to Dayton and Cincinnati, and to a few border and adjacent counties in Kentucky and West Virginia. The Cavins work from their home in Lewis Center in Delaware County.

Some of Mannington's largest local installations include COSI, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Nationwide Insurance, Riverside Methodist Hospital, Grange Insurance Companies, the Ohio Building Authority, and The Ohio State University Medical Center.

Mannington has been in business since 1915 and privately owned for four generations. The company holds numerous patents on equipment improvements, leads the industry in quality control, and is constantly striving to create processes and products that are environmentally friendly.

The company also proudly boasts:

"Commercial specifiers, designers, and architects can rest assured that by selecting a Mannington product they are getting award-winning styles and colors combined with unsurpassed quality and performance. Mannington Commercial hard and soft surface floorcoverings will enhance a range of design projects from healthcare to corporate environments."

As the company looks to the future, its focus will be on "leading-edge technologies that help the environment and promote sustainability, including life-cycle analysis, pollution prevention, eco-efficiency, supply-chain management, and product take-back."

According to Joyce, the company features over 60 carpet styles, including broadloom, carpet tile, and six-foot vinyl-back carpet. In resilient flooring, the company has three VTC lines with three "new and exciting lines to come out in September," eight vinyl sheet products, "walk-off" tile and mats, and sells its own adhesives.

"We also do a lot of custom work as well," she said, "and will make anything the customer wants. Thirty percent of what we do is custom work."

Being a husband-wife team "makes for an interesting day," Joyce said, especially with seven-year-old Tyler, a second grader, to consider. Husband and wife teams are somewhat unusual in the carpet industry; however, at one time Mannington employed five.

The Cavins work a "flexible schedule" in dealing with the numerous facility managers, architects, and designers they must call on throughout their territory, but are seldom away from home at night.

In fact, the Cavins were expecting when they joined Mannington eight years ago at the behest of Bill Sayre, then and now regional manager for the company. Joyce was a design consultant covering Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky for DuPont, and Don was a facilities designer at Bank One.

Though they split the Columbus market, and "Don tends to cover Dayton," the Cavins aren't tied to specific territories, Joyce said.

"While there are some accounts that each has, it's usually who can get back to the customer quickest. We encourage all of our customers to work with each of us," she added.

Mannington Commercial has been a sponsor of the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter for several years, and Joyce also has been an active associate member, serving on the Community Service Committee.

Joyce says membership in IFMA keeps the Cavins and Manning "in touch with our key clients. Our association also helps us to better understand facility managers and their needs. We learn how to help them and to bring them the products they need in their jobs."

John Schell, founder and president of Capital Services, Inc. (CSI), a central Ohio leader in providing environmental services, can get to the nub of his company's success in two words: "Quality Service."

These words are emphasized in the company's mission statement, throughout company publications, in customer testimonials, and in conversations with Schell, who maintains: "Our best salespersons are the people we are serving, because our customers know when we provide a service, we will do it right."

This is the mind-set that has propelled CSI, headquartered at 4645 Westerville Rd., Columbus, into a third decade as a company providing the best possible professional cleaning, laundry, recycling, and nutritional services to a variety of quality-conscious companies, universities, and hospitals.

"We're not the biggest company offering these services, but we believe our customers deserve 100 percent of our attention, and as a smaller company we are able to deliver this attention," Schell said.

CSI came into being in 1981 when Schell left his position as general manager of the Columbus District of International Telephone and Telegraph's (ITT) Building Services Division to do for himself what he had been doing for others. Joining him were his wife, Helen, who served as bookkeeper, secretary, and receptionist for the start-up company, and Jerry Nelson, an ITT associate with some 22 years experience in the sanitation field.

Schell, a Chicago native, found the Columbus environment just right for his new venture, and after obtaining a small business loan opened with offices in his home. He attributes a great deal of his success to his wife and to Nelson, who helped Schell develop a business core, "a long list of prestigious clients," many of whom he serves today.

These include Grady Memorial Hospital in Delaware, 250 E. Broad St., and Ashland Chemical. CSI has continued to add excellent customers to its client base with accounts such as State Auto Insurance and Chemical Abstracts Service. Chemical Abstracts, as well as others, have called upon CSI for "auxiliary services," services the company had never performed, but services the clients felt CSI could provide because of its track record.

For example, Chemical Abstracts had a challenge a few years ago in getting its lawn cleared of tables, chairs, and debris left by the crowds attending the popular Picnic With the Pops concert series. Company officials contacted Schell to see if CSI could "restore" the lawn before business on the Mondays following the concerts.

Schell thought athletic officials at St. Charles Preparatory School might provide a crew of young athletes on the Sunday mornings following concerts to handle these chores. In return, the school's athletic program would receive the moneys Chemical Abstracts was paying the current provider.

"Not only has Chemical Abstracts been pleased with the arrangement, Schell said, "but this year they requested the students help with setting up the tables Friday afternoons for the concerts. We view this solution to a problem as being a valued asset to Chemical Abstracts. When a client wants something done, it is rewarding to have them ask if we can help."

As CSI continued to grow, the company entered a joint venture with Grady Memorial Hospital in 1985 and formed The Grady Co. to deliver custodial and catering services to the Delaware community. In 1992, Schell formed Quest Resources, Inc., as a source for labor for CSI on a subcontract basis. Additionally, CSI manages a hospital laundry facility in Circleville that provides laundry and bed linen services for institutions in that city and in Logan, Waverly, and Wilmington.

Schell attributes much of the success of CSI to its many associates, a number of whom have been with the company for more than 15 years. As the company celebrated its first decade, Schell referred to his associates as "the backbone of the company," adding, "Without their hard work and pride each of them takes in doing their best, CSI would not be able to continually offer its clients the quality service they have come to expect."

What was true in 1991 remains true in 2001.

Schell also lamented the loss of Nelson, "an outstanding associate and good friend…who helped create and expand the services of CSI." Nelson died in 1989. Schell's wife has since retired from the business, but Schell has strong, second-generation supported from daughters, Christine, who is in operations, and Jennifer, in administration.

Though CSI encountered many struggles during its first two decades, Schell sees additional problems on the horizon from continued government intervention with small businesses, a changing work force, increasing insurance and workers' compensation rates, and changes in equipment and chemicals necessary to maintain company and client standards.

Schell feels companies will have to band together to resolve these and other challenges.

"We are going to need more cooperation with clients to reevaluate their service schedules, and we will need to have a total understanding with them on how best to maximize the dollars they are spending for these services."

CSI may also turn to IFMA for solutions. Schell has been an associate member and sponsor of the Central Ohio Chapter for about five years and sees it as "an organization that's on the cutting edge of what's new. It's an outstanding organization where any member has access to a tremendous amount of information. The educational programs are excellent, the networking is phenomenal when it comes to solving problems, and the people are first class."