DLI's Board is made up of eight drycleaners, representing each of DLI's Districts in the U.S. In addition, the President and Chairman of the Board have usually finished their 4-year term as a Director, bringing the number to 10. An Allied Trades Representative also holds a Director's position, which usually brings the total number of Board members to 11.

In the furtherance of the desire of DLI's Board of Directors to increase diversity on the Board and to broaden the scope of representation, the positions of District Committee Member (DCM) and District Committee Member at Large have been added. The regional and state associations in each of DLI's eight Districts are strongly encouraged to provide a DCM from their District.

Meet DLI's Executive Committee

	Steve Poulos - Chairman of the Board
	Blairs Cleaners
	N Canton, OH

For more than two decades Poulos has given back to the drycleaning industry through association service. Poulos has been a board member of the Ohio Cleaners Association since 1980. He was president of the association's board for the '98-99 term. He is also a lifetime trustee.

Poulos began J.P.S. Associates Inc./Blair's Cleaners in 1983. J.P.S. operated 12 retail drycleaning and laundromats in Stark County, Ohio. The company was reorganized in 1994 and Elmest Inc. was established. Elmest Inc. owns and operates seven retail locations including two drycleaning plants plus a shirt plant in the Stark County area and employs more than 45 people. Poulos is also a majority shareholder of Midpark Inc., which services the western suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, through the operation of three retail locations, including one drycleaning plant. Elmest Inc. is a Sanitone licensee.

"I've always been actively involved in every organization I've ever been a part of," Poulos said. "My mentor Tom Kimmel [a former DLI Chairman, now deceased] was a good example for all of us.

"I want to promote education and teamwork....I think the industry has an image problem, and it's time for the next generation of drycleaners to step forward and move the industry to the next level."

	Barbara "Bobbie" Harvey - President
	Fabricare by Fran
	Severna Park, MD

Barbara "Bobbie" Harvey, CED, CPD, owner/operator of Fabricare by Fran in Severna Park, Maryland, is the new District 2 Director. Harvey won the Stamford's Young Manager of the Year Award presented by Emory Industries in 1969. The prize was a management course at the National Institute of Drycleaners, now DLI, in Silver Spring, Maryland.

"Seventeen men and me," she has been known to say about the experience. Since then, Harvey's activity in the industry has been stellar, including three stints as president of the Coin Laundry Association, and various other duties. She is currently the District Committee Member for District 2 on DLI's Board, and she vigorously pursues her goals in this capacity. Harvey also received the Meritorious Service Award for Positive Recognition of the Industry at Clean '01 in New Orleans last July. Prior to that she was recognized as a 10+ membership sponsor at the Jolly Belin reception at Clean '99.

Harvey has represented the drycleaning industry on Capitol Hill, first when she delivered a solid industry message on cleanup of contaminated soil before members of Congress as well as multiple media. Later she returned to the Hill to speak in favor of regulatory reform.

Currently, Harvey is an active member of DLI's Textile Analysis Peer Review Group, which has been instrumental in helping improve the image of the industry from the analysis laboratory to the cleaner and the customer.

"I wish to express my commitment to representing the needs of the members in my district, as well as my commitment to the continued improvement of the industry as a whole," Harvey said. "I think membership needs to be strengthened, and members need to receive more information about the benefits of DLI so we can serve them better."

Harvey's company, Fabricare by Fran, currently has one plant, one coin-op laundry, and several routes.

	Ed Robinson - President Elect
	Ed Robinson Laundry & Dry Cleaning
	Columbia, SC

Ed Robinson has been involved and working in the drycleaning business for 36 years. As a third-generation cleaner, he owns the 89-year-old Ed Robinson Laundry & Dry Cleaning in Columbia, South Carolina. He joined the DLI Board in 2005 after serving as District 3 District Committee Member. “The industry has been good to me and my family for all these years, and I feel a real desire to give back,” he said.

Robinson has been involved in local, state, regional, and national associations affiliated with the drycleaning business. He owns and operates linen supply, industrial, and coin-op businesses in addition to drycleaning. “I believe I can bring good ideas and strategies to enhance the finest and most respected association of drycleaners,” he said.

Robinson said DLI is best at providing the nuts and bolts for giving good quality for the consumers across the country. “The educational opportunities available to a drycleaning plant owner are enormous. Those plants who take advantage of those opportunities provide better quality and service to their customers,” Robinson said.

	David Silliman - Treasurer
	Uptowne Drycleaning, Inc.
	Phoenix, Arizona

“Dry Clean Dave” Silliman volunteers his services to the industry that has supported his family for 88 years. “It is my pleasure and my obligation to volunteer to serve the membership, to help educate and increase the membership, and contribute in any way I can to improve and raise the level of the status quo,” he said.

Silliman has experience serving as a volunteer. He served as District 7 DCM, and Director, and has served two terms on the Western States Drycleaners & Launderers Association’s Board of Directors, as well as two terms on WSDLA’s Executive Committee as Corporate Secretary.

In addition to volunteering in a formal setting, Silliman spends a great deal of time helping cleaners from all corners of the globe on an individual basis. Through his website, www.drycleandave.com, he has assisted hundreds (likey thousands) of cleaners free of charge.

Beyond attending meetings, events, and performing the basic functions of an IFI Director, Silliman brings his experience with helping cleaners to the table. Silliman also brings his perspective as a working drycleaner to the Board. “I am in my plant cleaning, inspecting, and spotting 50–60 hours a week, every week. I’m side by side with my employees, and I’m accessible to my customers. I open up and start the boiler, and I blow down the boiler when we’re finished.”

	William Fisher - CEO/Corporate Secretary
	Drycleaning & Laundry Institute
	Silver Spring, MD

William E. Fisher is Chief Executive Officer of the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute. He is responsible for directing all of the Institute's operations, which include DLI's work on legislative and regulatory issues facing the industry, basic and applied research, marketing, membership, communications, education and textile analysis activities. Fisher also serves as Secretary on DLI's Board of Directors.

Fisher, a long time industry veteran, first joined the Research Department of DLI's predecessor, the National Institute of Drycleaning in 1965, and became Director of Silver Spring operations in 1976-overseeing Research, Garment Analysis, and Textile Testing. In 1980, he was named Special Assistant to the General Manager, serving as liaison to Federal agencies involved with various aspects of hazardous waste, air and water pollution, and care labeling. In 1986, Fisher became Assistant General Manager and Vice President of DLI, sharing responsibilities for the day-to-day operations of the Institute was well as continuing his work in the legislative and regulatory areas.

Prior to becoming CEO, he serviced DLI as Senior Vice President, Government Relations before his appointment to CEO on August 9, 1995.

Fisher has won many regulatory battles both in Washington and on local levels. His intense lobbying efforts on behalf of drycleaners have repeatedly helped them avoid unfair legislation that would have cost tens of thousands of dollars each year.

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