HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — The Queens Chamber of Commerce recently honored Denise Savino-Erichsen, president of multi-housing laundry equipment and services provider Automatic Industries, as part of its 2014 Business Person of the Year Awards.
Since 1994, the chamber has recognized “outstanding Queens business leaders and entrepreneurs” through its annual Business Person of the Year Awards, according to the chamber’s website, honoring local business men and women in different categories.
This year, Savino-Erichsen was honored as the chamber’s “Woman-Owned Business Champion.”
Founded in 1971 by her father, and the company’s current CEO, Bob Savino, Automatic Industries has been providing self-service laundry equipment and services to condominiums, apartment buildings and various other residencies throughout the neighborhoods of Queens.
Savino-Erichsen has been with the company for more than 20 years, getting her start in the family business when she was in college. As president, she now oversees the company’s day-to-day operations, managing a total of 26 full-time employees.
“I’ve always taken great pleasure in this business,” says Savino-Erichsen. “I’ve been managing the day-to-day for a while now, and it’s something I enjoy doing.”
“It was a great honor to follow in my father’s footsteps,” she adds. “He was the one that had the vision and the foundations for this.”
Regarding the lessons she’s learned as a businesswoman, Savino-Erichsen says, “The only dynamic, as with any family business, [is] you have to separate between state and union, and keep family [as] family and business as business. You try not to bring it home.”
She was nominated for the award by one of her customers, Mary Vauruska, board president of the Brulene Cooperative Apartments in Jackson Heights, N.Y.
“Honestly, when I found out that I was the recipient, I said, ‘I kind of have to come clean. This is not an award for an individual, but for an entire company,’” says Savino-Erichsen.
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