Trade Group Adds Three Store Owners and a Distributor to Its Current Board Lineup
For 2019, the Coin Laundry Association has added four new laundry professionals to two-year terms on its Board of Directors. These new directors include one distributor and three store owners. They are: Todd Fener, Laundry Owners Warehouse, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Dan Marrazzo, Laundry Depot, Langhorne, Pa.; Neal Shapiro, Bubbleland on Fullerton, Chicago; and Peggy Ann Conrad Trent, Trent Enterprises, Haslet, Texas.
Fener got his start in the laundry business in 2007 – buying, running, rehabbing and selling more than a dozen vended laundries. In June 2013, he helped establish Laundry Owners Warehouse, which provides new and used equipment, new parts, service, brokerage, store acquisition, store development and consulting. It does business all over the world, with a focus on the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.
He began his professional career in investment banking, rising to the position of vice president for Morgan Stanley and UBS, before joining the self-service laundry industry in 2007. While in banking, Fener served on local boards for the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society, chairing several committees with both organizations for local fundraising events.
Marrazzo has been a multi-store owner for more than 25 years, building several laundries for others as well as for personal ownership. He also boasts more than 40 years of experience in the construction industry, which affords him a unique perspective on how laundromats are built and maintained.
Over the years, he has been responsible for all phases of store operations – from site selection to manager and attendant training. For several years, Marrazzo also has been involved in the management of commercial real estate and residential apartment complexes.
Shapiro – who owns a 24-hour, 6,000-square-foot laundry in Chicago – has more than 35 years of experience in owning and operating manufacturing and engineering companies across a variety of industries.
He also has held several volunteer positions on trade association boards and committees. Most recently, Shapiro served two years as the chairman of the North American Die Casting Association. Prior to that, he chaired the government affairs committee for that same organization for six years. In addition, he was a member of several committees for the American Water Works Association, when he owned a company that made equipment for waste water treatment plants.
Trent, despite being relatively new to the industry, owns and operates two vended laundries, with full responsibility for each – from accounting, cash flow and hiring to vending management and machine maintenance.
Before entering the laundry industry, Trent worked in corporate America for 30 years. A mechanical engineer with a master’s degree in business management and Six Sigma certification, she served as a project manager in both the aerospace and utilities industries, responsible for identifying areas of improvement and implementing new processes and procedures. She also is a former president of both the Alliance of Technology and Women (Fort Worth Chapter) and the American Helicopter Society.
In addition, the CLA Board’s 2019 officers are:
• Chairman – Joel Jorgensen, Continental Girbau, Oshkosh, Wis.
• Chairman-Elect – Brian Grell, Eastern Funding, New York City
• Vice Chairman – Daryl Johnson, Giant Wash Coin Laundry, St. Ansgar, Iowa
• Treasurer – Ted Ristaino, Yankee Equipment Systems, Barrington, N.H.
• Immediate Past Chair – Ron Kelley, EZ Coin-Op Laundromat, San Jose, Calif.
• Appointee – Brian Holland, The Laundry, Café, Philadelphia
Rounding out the remainder of the CLA Board for 2019 are: Charles Pasquale, Village Mart Laundromat, Trooper, Pa.; Russ Arbuckle, Wholesale Commercial Laundry Equipment SE, Southside, Ala.; Steve Marcionetti, Card Concepts Inc., Addison, Ill.; Kathryn Rowen, Alliance Laundry Systems, Ripon, Wis.; Lisa White, Absolute Laundry Systems, Eugene, Ore.; Dennis Diaz, Spynr Inc., New York City; John Olsen, Laundrylux, Inwood, N.Y.; Paul Pettefer, Laundry World, Lake Charles, La.; Robert Maes, Express Laundry Center, Houston; and Brian Brunckhorst, Advantage Laundry, Dublin, Calif.
Lastly, exiting the Board at the end of last year were four hard-working individuals who, without a doubt, enhanced the vended laundry industry through their many and varied contributions. They are: former Chairman Jim Whitmore, WSI Laundry Corp., Gloucester, Mass.; Karl Hinrichs, HK Laundry Equipment, Armonk, N.Y.; Chris Moreno, Laundry Locker, San Francisco; and Michael Finkelstein, Associated Services Corp., Danville, Va. The CLA thanks these four consummate professionals for their years of dedicated service to the association and the industry.
