When Kelli Clancy started her pool service company, Legacy Pool & Spa, she knew education was going to be important. She’d grown up in the pool industry, helping with her parents’ store, route and repairs, and worked at Leslie’s for a season during college. She joined her local IPSSA chapter right away to learn as…
Michael Gesmond was 8 years old when he sat in his father’s lap inside an excavator as his father dug a new swimming pool. Gesmond spent years helping at his father’s construction company: running for parts, holding a string line, connecting pipes. “I was soaking up all the information I could,” he says. “The most…
After serving in the United States Navy from 2008 to 2012, Jay Brakefield wasn’t sure what his next steps were. He moved to Denton, Texas, to be near family and started working for a property management company. Brakefield overheard his boss speaking to someone about a large pool company that had been out to his…
Brian Schoen started in the Haviland labeling room at 16 years old. It was a summer job that turned into several summers in that role, followed by transitions to maintenance and liquids. In college, Schoen worked at Haviland on school breaks, graduating with a teaching degree in 2010. That December, he was promoted to inventory…
In 2006, Michael J. Baker was a jack-of-all-trades: He was a bartender, selling gym memberships and cleaning pools. His ambition was to be a business owner, so while he worked his other jobs, he started building a pool service company. By 2009, Baker had 50 service accounts and quit his other jobs. In 2011, he…
When Vic Garcia wanted to build a pool in his backyard, he started calling different industry companies. But the operational issues he encountered — high-pressure sales, flakiness, lack of follow up and low design creativity — made him realize change was needed. As an engineer for the Department of Defense, Garcia manages fleet readiness of…
In 1982, the year Brooke Rossi was born, her parents Mike and Michelle DesRochers started DesRochers Pools. She spent her adolescent and teen years heavily involved with the business and has since taken over as second-generation owner, alongside her brother Brian DesRochers. After graduating from Illinois State University in 2005 with a degree in kinesiology,…
“The pool industry is surprisingly lucrative and complex,” says Brian Fernandes, business development manager at Poolwerx. Fernandes oversees multiple Poolwerx franchise partners, helping to enforce best practices and coach business growth via technical excellence, customer service, local area marketing, profit-and-loss management and organizational strategy. Fernandes began working in the pool industry as a retail associate…
I’ve been to a lot of trade shows — and after a while, they all start to run together. Exhibiting is a ton of work, even for a small booth like ours. In the past, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with trade shows: I love to be there and see everyone, and I have some…
Registration and more details available at PoolSpaPatio.com. DallasNovember 16–18, 2021Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Events Tuesday, November 16 5–6 p.m. | Gilley’s DallasPHTA WAVE Young Professionals Network Event Network and socialize with fellow young professionals. Admission includes select alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and appetizers. Registration is free but space is limited, so reserve your ticket…
Rick Woemmel left his computer science job to start Bi-State Pool & Spa in 1994. Like most small business owners, back then he was the president, CEO, janitor and technician. Now, Woemmel can focus on leading, supporting and teaching his employees, making sure they develop within his company and in the industry. A longtime PHTA…
AquaStar Pool Products Inc., has been making equipment for pools, spas, water features and water parks since 2003 and is continuously striving for innovation. The vertically integrated company is capable of doing everything from designing initial engineering concepts to finishing and producing in-house, says Todd Pieri, chief operating officer. “We always listen to the industry’s…