Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Gail Mandel

Gail Mandel

Board Member

Gail Mandel is the Executive Chair for PureStar Linen Group. She is also Managing Director of Focused Point Ventures, LLC a business advisory and consulting services firm. Prior to the 2018 Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) spin-off transaction, she dedicated the last 25 years to Wyndham. Most recently, she served as the President & CEO of Wyndham Destination Network (WDN), the world's largest provider of professionally managed, unique vacation accommodations with over 120,000 properties in over 100 countries. During Gail's four-year tenure as CEO of this $1.6B revenue division of Wyndham, the division delivered four consecutive years of organic earnings growth which was more than double the prior four years. While leading the WDN team of 10,000 employees and generating 60% of its revenue outside the US, she introduced and implemented the strategy of "Leveraging Our Strengths" which focused on cross- functional collaboration as well as maximizing and customizing innovative activities to enhance the needs of the diverse product offerings. Prior to this role, Gail served as the CFO of Wyndham Exchange & Rentals ($1.5 billion revenue division) and held senior finance positions at Wyndham Worldwide, Cendant Corporation and HFS Incorporation. She began her career as an auditor at Deloitte & Touche and earned her CPA in New York.

Emily Pollack

Emily Pollack

Board Member

Emily Pollack is a Managing Director of Cornell Capital. She has over 15 years of M&A and private investing experience. Prior to joining Cornell Capital in 2017, Emily served as a Vice President of Harron Communications, a regional cable company, where she was a member of the senior leadership team responsible for M&A and financing activities, legal matters and operational management. She began her career at Davis Polk & Wardwell in the Mergers & Acquisitions group and previously worked at American International Group, Inc. (AIG). Emily was recently recognized as one of the Wall Street Journal’s Women to Watch in Private Equity. She is a Director of Talcott Resolution, Spectrum Automotive and PureStar Linen Group.  

Emily holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from Harvard Law School.

Henry Cornell

Henry Cornell

Board Member

Henry Cornell is the Senior Partner of Cornell Capital. Prior to founding the firm, he was the Vice Chairman and one of the original architects of the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs. Henry has over 35 years of experience across all aspects of private equity investing in a broad array of industries. He began his career as an attorney with Davis Polk & Wardwell before joining Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division in 1984. He moved to Tokyo in 1988 to found Goldman Sachs’s real estate efforts in Asia, and then moved to Hong Kong in 1992 where he founded Goldman Sachs’ principal investment business in Asia. 

Under his leadership, Goldman Sachs made numerous landmark investments in the region, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Kookmin Bank, Ping An Insurance Company of China and Sanyo Corporation. Henry returned to New York in 2000 as the Head of Private Equity Americas and Asia, and as a member of the Global Investment Committee. He was subsequently named Vice Chairman of the Merchant Banking Division. Henry’s notable US investments while at Goldman Sachs include Allied World, Barrett Energy, Cobalt, Kinder Morgan, MRC Global and USI.  Henry is a Director of Corelle Brands, Blue Mistral, MRC Global, PureStar Linen Group and Talcott Resolution.  Henry is a member of the Board of Trustees of Mt. Sinai Hospital, the Whitney Museum, The Asia Society and the Navy SEAL Foundation, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  Henry holds a JD from New York Law School and a BA from Grinnell College.

Henrik Slipsager

Henrik Slipsager

Board Member

Henrik Slipsager served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of ABM Industries Incorporated from 2000 to 2015. Prior to joining ABM Industries, Mr. Slipsager was President of 2M-Invest and held roles of increasing responsibility at ISS, a Copenhagen-based cleaning and food service facility management company. Henrik is the Chairman of the board of CSC Serviceworks, a leader in commercial laundry solutions and air vending services, and Impark, one of the largest parking management companies in North America. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of Briggs & Stratton Corporation, Lithko, and Artic Glacier. Mr. Slipsager has an M.B.A. degree (equivalent) from the Business School of Copenhagen.

Jean-Paul Montupet

Jean-Paul Montupet

Board Member

Jean-Paul Montupet was Chair of the Industrial Automation business of Emerson and President of Emerson Europe prior to his retirement in December 2012. Jean-Paul joined Emerson in 1981 and served in a number of senior executive roles at the global technology provider. He serves on the boards of IHS MarkIt, WABCO Holdings Inc. and Assurant, Inc. and previously served on the board of Lexmark International, Inc. In addition, he was the non-executive chair of the board of PartnerRE Ltd. until March 2016.

Brian Herington

Brian Herington

Board Member

Brian Herington was appointed PureStar’s Chief Executive Officer and to the Company’s Board of Directors on September 16, 2020.

Brian has more than 30 years of industrial and commercial experience leading complex, technology-driven businesses both regionally and globally. He most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Univar Solutions, a publicly traded, global distributor of chemicals and ingredients, following Univar’s acquisition of Nexeo Solutions, where Brian served as Executive Vice President of Chemicals from 2016 to 2019. Prior to that, Brian was a Region Division Head, Americas at ABB and a President at Thomas & Betts. Earlier in his career, Brian spent more than 20 years in various positions of increasing responsibility in the United States, Latin America and Europe at General Electric, SABIC, a portfolio company of Sun Capital, and Amoco Chemical. He has a B.S. from Illinois State University and an MBA from Ashford University.

Mattias Olsson

Mattias Olsson

Board Member

Mattias is a Principal at Cornell Capital, based in the New York office. Prior to joining the firm in 2019, Mattias began his career in investment banking at LionTree, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions in the technology, media and telecommunications sectors. Mattias was appointed to the Board of Directors for PureStar in February 2022, and also serves on the board for S.i. Systems.

Executive Leadership

Brian Herington

Brian Herington

Chief Executive Officer

Brian Herington is Chief Executive Officer of PureStar and serves on the Company’s Board of Directors.

Brian has more than 30 years of industrial and commercial experience leading complex, technology-driven businesses both regionally and globally. He most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Univar Solutions, a publicly traded, global distributor of chemicals and ingredients, following Univar’s acquisition of Nexeo Solutions, where Brian served as Executive Vice President of Chemicals from 2016 to 2019. Prior to that, Brian was a Region Division Head, Americas at ABB and a President at Thomas & Betts. Earlier in his career, he spent more than 20 years in various positions of increasing responsibility in the United States, Latin America and Europe at General Electric, SABIC, a portfolio company of Sun Capital, and Amoco Chemical.

He has a B.S. from Illinois State University and an MBA from Ashford University.

Sebastian Mitchell

Sebastian Mitchell

Chief Operating Officer

Sebastian Mitchell is Chief Operating Officer of PureStar, and is responsible for all aspects of PureStar’s mainland operations as well as global Environment, Health & Safety and Engineering.

Prior to joining PureStar, Sebastian served as Regional Vice President at Aramark. In this role he delivered cross-functional excellence in operations, sales, finance, and human resources to distributed client locations for 12 years. He served in senior leadership roles in Aramark’s Healthcare, Sports and Entertainment and Facility Management sectors. Sebastian previously held senior consultant positions at Grant Thornton and KPMG.

He holds a BA from Emory University and an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Dave Kimmel

Dave Kimmel

Chief Financial Officer

Dave Kimmel is PureStar’s Chief Financial Officer, overseeing the finance, accounting, treasury and risk management functions for the Company.

Prior to joining PureStar, Dave spent the last 15 years in progressively senior financial positions with both publicly traded and private equity owner business services companies including ARAMARK, Iron Mountain, CDI Corporation, and Magna Legal Services.

He also has 10 years’ experience in public accounting with Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen providing audit and transaction advisory services.

Dave received his Bachelor of Science from La Salle University and MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a Certified Public Accountant and a member of AICPA and PICPA.

Amy Vaughn

Amy Vaughn

Chief Human Resources Officer

Amy Vaughn is Chief Human Resources Officer for PureStar, where she oversees the HR team and functions including talent acquisition, employee relations, compensation, benefits administration, labor relations and performance management.

Amy spent the previous 15 years of her career with Aramark in HR leadership roles supporting various regions and lines of business including Uniform Services, Facility Services, Higher Education, Education K-12, Correctional Services, Sports and Entertainment, and Healthcare. Her most recent role before joining PureStar was with the global HR team supporting the integration of the HR system for the entire organization as well as mergers and acquisitions.

Amy holds a BS from Purdue University, and a Master of Human Resources Management from Keller Graduate School of Management. She is also a member of SHRM.

Patrick O’Reilly

Patrick O’Reilly

PureStar President, Hawaii Region

Patrick O’Reilly is the President of PureStar’s Hawaii Region. He oversees the Company’s United Laundry Services, Maui Linen Supply, Ali’i Linen Services, and Hawaiian Linen Supply businesses. 

Pat joined PureStar in March 2020, and previously served as the Company’s General Counsel. Prior to that, he worked for BrightView Holdings, Inc., the nation’s leading commercial landscaping services company, as Corporate Counsel and Blank Rome LLP, as an attorney in that firm’s Corporate, M&A, and Securities Practice Group. 

Pat holds an MBA from Rutgers School of Business, a JD from Rutgers School of Law, and a BA from Franklin & Marshall College.

David C. DiDonna

David C. DiDonna

General Counsel

David C. DiDonna serves as General Counsel to PureStar. He oversees and manages all of the organization’s legal functions.

David has practiced law for over sixteen years, having worked in the corporate departments of several notable law firms and in the legal departments of two multinational corporations. Additionally, David had an active pro bono practice, having offered complimentary legal services to several museums, libraries, churches and synagogues and served as General Counsel for two veteran support organizations.

David earned his JD at Widener University School of Law – Delaware, and has both an MBA and a BS from Penn State.

Ted Szymkowski

Ted Szymkowski

Vice President of Finance

Ted Szymkowski is the Vice President of Finance for PureStar. He oversees the regional finance team and provides financial support to operations.

Prior to joining Pure Star in 2019, Ted worked at Aramark Corporation in various Accounting and Finance roles over the last 25+ years. His most recent roles before joining PureStar were Regional Finance Director for Aramark Facility Services, and Director of Finance for Aramark Correctional and Leisure Services.

Ted holds his BS in Accounting from Spring Garden College in Philadelphia, PA.

Vicky Cayetano

Vicky Cayetano

Senior Advisor

Vicky Cayetano currently serves as Senior Advisor to PureStar, following her role as President of PureStar’s Hawaii operations.

In 1987, Vicky co-founded Honolulu’s United Laundry Service, which received the 2020 TRSA Above & Beyond Service Award. 

From 1997 to 2002, Vicky served as Hawaii’s First Lady. She spearheaded numerous programs to improve healthcare, including an effort in 2002 to provide universal long-term care for all of Hawaii’s citizens. 

In 2019, the University of Hawaii, Travel Industry Management School presented Vicky with the 2019 “Legacy in Tourism” Award. The prior year, she received the Pacific Business News “Career Achievement Honoree”. Vicky is a 2011 recipient of the YWCA Leadership Award, the Girl Scouts of Hawaii’s 2000 Woman of the Year and a prior nominee of Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year.

Ed Chen

Ed Chen

Senior Advisor

Ed Chen currently serves as Senior Advisor to PureStar, following his most recent role as President of PureStar’s Five Star Laundry and On-Premise Operations.

Ed co-founded Five Star Laundry, a PureStar Company, in 1998. Five Star is the national leader in working with large hotel properties to optimize laundries they operate on-premise.

Under Ed’s leadership, PureStar has expanded its presence in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Nashville, Orlando, Portland and Washington, DC.

Prior to founding Five Star, Ed was the Director of Catering Operations for the Chicago Hilton. His relationship working for or with Hilton spans 42 years.

Ed is past President of the Alexander Graham Bell Montessori, a school in suburban Chicago that he and his wife co-founded to serve the needs of hearing-impaired students.

Ed holds a BA in Business Management from University of Bombay.

Angel Pis-Dupot

Angel Pis-Dupot

Senior Advisor

Angel Pis-Dudot serves as Senior Advisor for PureStar, following his most recent role of President for PureStar’s Southeast region.

In 2005, Angel co-founded Hotelier Linen Services, a PureStar Company, which provides laundry service to luxury hotels throughout central and southern Florida.

Angel has more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality outsourced laundry industry. He is a member of TRSA’s Hospitality Committee, a member of the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association, and a member of Central Florida Hotel Lodging Association.

Angel holds a BBA in Marketing and Finance from the University of Florida.

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