Our History

ServiceMaster has come a long way since its incorporation in 1947.

Founded as a moth-proofing company in 1929 by Marion E. Wade, a former minor league baseball player, ServiceMaster had its beginnings in Chicago where Wade worked out of his home. Wade had a strong personal faith and a desire to honor God in all he did. Translating this into the marketplace, he viewed each individual employee and customer as being made in God's image - worthy of dignity and respect. His successors, Ken Hansen and Ken Wessner, also shared this view. These three leaders shaped what became our Company objectives: To honor God in all we do; To help people develop; To pursue excellence; and To grow profitably.

In 2005, The Board of Directors ratified the first change to these company objectives in over 30 years: The objective "Excel with Customers" has now replaced "Pursue Excellence".

Realizing that helping every employee develop to their full potential would result in a greater quality of work, training at all levels became a cornerstone of the ServiceMaster approach. Operating under this basic philosophy, ServiceMaster expanded to carpet cleaning in 1952, establishing one of America's first franchise businesses. In 1962, the Company took its expertise to the healthcare arena and pioneered what is now known as outsourcing. In 1980, we began serving the education market and expanded our work offerings to business and industry.

In the 1980s, Chairman and former Chief Executive Officer C. William Pollard lead further expansion of our consumer business. Under his leadership, and the leadership of former Chief Executive Officer Carlos Cantu, ServiceMaster built on the original franchise business to form a network of quality service companies. Jonathan Ward was named President and Chief Executive Officer in the spring of 2001. The Board of Directors and Ward concluded that ServiceMaster should focus on its residential business and on the commercial business served by its branch and franchise model.

This marked a significant transformation of the company, which included the sale of the Management Services business to ARAMARK.

In April 2002, the Board elected Ward as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Ernest J. Mrozek as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company. Ward resigned in May 2006 and ServiceMaster announced in June 2006 that board member J. Patrick Spainhour would serve as Chairman and CEO. Mrozek was named Vice Chairman in November 2006.

Another transformation occurred in July 2007 when Clayton, Dubilier and Rice, Inc. (CD&R) acquired ServiceMaster. George W. Tamke, a CD&R Operating Partner currently serves as Chairman of the ServiceMaster Global Holdings Board of Directors. Spainhour continues to serve as Chief Executive Officer of ServiceMaster and is the Chief Executive Officer of ServiceMaster Global Holdings.

To learn more about our history, view the ServiceMaster timeline.