March 2014
| Business World Magazine | 45
timately sold in 1989 as the company focused
on security. Both Jones and Brian Cescolini,
who’s now executive chairman, arrived in
1996 and helped the revenue swell past $20
million by 2000, then persuaded the found-
ers to sell the business to them.
Revenues climbed to$50millionby 2002,
$100 million by 2004 and $250 million by
2008, and, a year later, janitorial services re-
turned to the product offerings, thanks to a
change in the industry.
The environmentally conscious move-
ment had just begun to take hold back then,
Jones says, and many of the traditional com-
panies in the space were “reluctantly moving
to green cleaning” because of the addition-
al costs for new supplies and equipment. If
Universal Services were to get back into the
fray, the leadership decided, it was going to
be all-in on green from the outset.
“There was a merger between the two
largest janitorial companies, and a lot of
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Universal Services of America
WHAT:
Four-pronged business – Universal
Protection Service, Universal Build-
ing Maintenance, Universal Protec-
tion Security Systems and Universal
Fire/Life Safety Services – that pro-
vides security and janitorial services
WHERE:
Headquarters in Santa Ana, Calif.;
locations in 47 states
WEBSITE:
