The Coin Laundry Association has announced two of the recipients of its 2017 Industry Awards. The winners were recognized at Clean 2017, at a special cocktail reception on Monday, June 5, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The honorees are:
Member of the Year – Paul Hansen
This high honor is particularly well-earned this year in the case of Paul Hansen of Chicago. Paul grew up in the industry and has been an innovative multi-store operator along the way, by a process of continual improvement of the efficiency of his laundries and putting customer satisfaction first. He turned his attention to giving back to the industry as president of the Illinois Coin Laundry Association. During his tenure, he has battled an unprecedented level of legislative and regulatory threats on behalf of his local members. If heading up the association’s lobbying response to the serious sales tax threat in Illinois wasn’t enough, Paul simultaneously took on the city of Chicago’s 30 percent water tax – all of this under the backdrop of steep minimum wage increases and the doubling of water rates. In his spare time, he is preparing to host his second Free Laundry Day, in conjunction with The Laundry Project and LaundryCares. Paul certainly embodies the spirit of service so important to the mission of the Coin Laundry Association.
The Leadership Award – Craig Wells
Craig is a multi-store owner and a long-time member of the CLA. In recent years, he has taken the helm at the Washington State CLA as president. In 2016, the state of Washington required that industries with sales tax exemptions provide new justifications for maintaining those exemptions. Craig engaged in the administrative process full-force and restated the case for the Washington State CLA’s hard-fought exemption. In the end, the state determined that self-service laundry should remain among the handful of industries to retain sales tax exemptions.
Additional CLA awards will be presented later during the Clean Show.
