‘SOLS’ Sophomore: Oregon GM Psyched for Year II of EMI

Posted May 12, 2023 at 12:21 pm




Antonio Casillas, a first-generation Mexican immigrant with nine years’ experience working his way up at an Oregon healthcare co-op laundry, says he’s eager for his second year at TRSA’s Executive Management Institute (EMI) this Aug. 6-10 in Hyattsville, MD.

“I’m done with Year I and super excited to get to Year II,” says Casillas, who’s general manager for Southern Oregon Linen Service (SOLS), White City, OR. The facility is located near Medford in the central part of the Beaver State.

Casillas’ journey to a leadership role in the healthcare linen, uniform and facility services industry reflects his unique background. His parents emigrated from Mexico before he was born. They settled in eastern Washington state, where Casillas’ father managed apple orchards. Later, he became ill and was disabled. At the time, Casillas was a high school football star in Granger, WA, but his family had to relocate to Oregon for financial reasons. They moved to Central Point, OR, where his mother found a job. Casillas was upset by the interruption of his senior year of high school. He dropped out. Still under 18, he tried to run away, but was found at his girlfriend’s house and returned home. He later trained as a truck driver, but he wasn’t all that happy there. An aunt who worked at the SOLS co-op laundry suggested that he apply there. He did and was hired, starting in February 2014 in the soil-sort department of this 30,000-square-foot (2,787-square-meter) laundry owned by seven area healthcare groups.

Gradually, Casillas worked his way up and was named GM in December 2021. In lieu of a high school diploma, Casillas obtained a general-education degree, but he never attended a trade school or four-year college. Now, EMI is helping him fill this gap in his formal education. The irony is, when the late Bernie Ehrlich and Gerard Stempler founded EMI in 1965, the idea was to provide college-level training to rising family business leaders, some of whom had gone straight to work out of high school. A fair number hadn’t attended college.

Today’s EMI student body is far more diverse, with many attendees who’ve already earned undergraduate or graduate degrees. The program, now its 58th year, also features senior managers from chain operators and central laundries like SOLS, as well as supplier partners and independent “next-gen” leaders. The four-year program of one-week sessions is designed to replicate the college experience with top-flight faculty members and a focus on issues of concern to laundry operators. These range from human resource challenges to marketing, finance, leadership, strategic planning and more. We asked Casillas to comment on his experience with EMI so far. Excerpts of his responses – edited for clarity and brevity – follow.

How did you hear about EMI?
Browsing on the TRSA website.

What made you think it could be valuable?
Reading the course brochure and the direction I would like to take my career in; I wanted to bring back valuable tools for my entire team to use.

How would you rate the educational content for Year I of EMI? Was it helpful?
I still refer back to the content we received and look at my notes. I feel like the true value is taking all that and using it throughout the year.

How would you rate the professional networking opportunities that EMI offers?
You’re not just there to learn the textbook material but also how to associate with others. I feel like I made new friends. One thing I will say is that as I become more of an upperclassman, I will make it a point to try and make connections with the new people coming to EMI.

Do you think SOLS’ investment to send you to EMI is worthwhile?
Yes this is a great investment.

Is having suppliers as well as laundry operators at EMI helpful? How so?
I know most of them as we already do business, but yes I think this is helpful for the new people in the industry.

Click here to learn more and to register for EMI.

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