Alisa Kraemer has been president and CEO of Texas Microfiber since the company incorporated in March 2010, but she’s held a number of critical roles within the organization. “I have also held the distinguished positions of chief bottle washer and manager of trash takeout,” she said.
Kraemer got her start in the textile industry more than 36 years ago coordinating and designing custom fabrics after graduating from LSU’s School of Architecture and Interior Design. Today, she spends her time at Texas Microfiber taking care of her long to-do list, which includes taking care of order fulfillments, customer communications and coordination with overseas factories. “By Friday, all hell breaks loose with last-minute order fulfillment,” she said. “My weekend may continue this trend depending on our customers’ needs for textiles at their facilities.”
A lot of those customers are from the car wash industry.
“My entry into the car wash industry was a bit serendipitous and a bit common sense,” Kraemer said. “I couldn’t help noticing the microfiber at every car wash. This led to exhibiting at the SWCA and The Car Wash Show, where we have met and done business with our exhibitor neighbors, car wash owners, distributors and entrepreneurs who have packaged our microfiber into their product offerings.”
Kraemer said that aside from getting to know a bunch of amazing people, she is astounded by the parts, pieces and mechanical genius that goes into a car wash. “I’ve learned the car wash industry is a very hard-working, competitive, and a creative group of business owners and managers,” she said.
The support she’s received and creativity she’s witnessed are two things Kraemer loves about the industry, but solving customer challenges is what makes her happiest. “When we’re exhibiting at a show like The Car Wash Show, it gives me so much satisfaction to meet people, help them solve their textile challenges, and share my knowledge about how microfiber is made, how it behaves and how to treat it for best results,
she said.
While solving her customers’ problems and sharing her knowledge are most satisfying to Kraemer, she’s learned that she has to set her limits. “There was a time in my past when I would work seven days a week, 12 to 14 hours per day,” she said. “One of my bosses said to me, ‘You know, all of that will be there again in the morning.’ It taught me to get a life outside of work, what balance means and how important it is over a lifetime.”
Kraemer still dedicates her daytime hours to working hard while in the office, but makes time for herself outside the office for things like tennis and spending time with family.
