Brian Lewis/The Gazette Rockville resident Robert M. Alexander, president and CEO of RMA Worldwide Chauffeured Transportaton, was was named 2011 Limousine Operator of the Year by Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association.

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Brian Lewis/The Gazette Rockville resident Robert M. Alexander, president and CEO of RMA Worldwide Chauffeured Transportaton, was was named 2011 Limousine Operator of the Year by Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association.
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Brian Lewis/The Gazette Rockville resident Robert M. Alexander, president and CEO of RMA Worldwide Chauffeured Transportaton, was was named 2011 Limousine Operator of the Year by Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association.

Brian Lewis/The Gazette Rockville resident Robert M. Alexander, president and CEO of RMA Worldwide Chauffeured Transportaton, was was named 2011 Limousine Operator of the Year by Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association.

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A member of the wedding party forgot his dress shoes. But the group was already in the limousine on the way to the ceremony. No time to turn back.

So — in an effort to go above and beyond — the RMA Worldwide Chaueffered Transportation driver removed his own kicks and lent them to the man with the missing shoes.

“It’s doing more than the expected,” Robert M. Alexander, president and founder of RMA Worldwide, said of his buisiness model. “It’s getting people to walk through fire — not to get them to do what you tell them to, but because they believe in what’s on the other side.”

And going the extra mile paid off for the Rockville business owner; RMA Worldwide received honors as Large Operator of the Year from Limo Digest Magazine in November, and Alexander was named Limo Operator of the Year by Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association in October.

The company boasts a fleet of 120 cars, vans, stretch limousines and minibuses and 200 employees. The company makes $20 million in revenue annually, Alexander said.

And, like many start-ups, RMA Worldwide grew from humble beginnings. In 1988, a year before graduating from college, Alexander started driving an elderly woman from Bethesda on errands. She told others about the service, sending more business Alexander’s way.

“That’s good,” Alexander said his dad told him about the service he ran from his parents’ basement. “But you’re not exactly running General Motors down there.”

That’s when the single-car driving service became a company called Errands Plus. And in 1992, the hobby became a career when Alexander founded RMA Chauffeur Transportation.

Alexander’s passion for the business is clear; he speaks enthusiastically about a desire to provide clients with top-notch service and seems to always look ahead.

This year, Alexander launched Orange Taxi, a Rockville-based taxi service.

“I want to grow that like there’s no tomorrow,” Alexander said.

Orange Taxi receives 10 to 15 applicants per day, said Art Miesemer, operations vice president.

Employees already working for RMA Worldwide tend to stay, too. Miesemer started as a chauffeur 17 years ago, talking his way into the job.

“It’s a very interesting business,” Miesemer said. “No two days are alike and that’s the appeal for many of us.”

The company moves about 3,000 people per day, Miesemer estimated, noting that number includes the Bethesda Circulator, a free shuttle service in downtown Bethesda the company manages.

For Rockville residents, a ride from the city to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., costs $93, including gratuity, Miesemer said.

That money covers more than just a ride; the chauffeurs arrive 15 minutes early and do their best to make clients feel both comfortable and safe, Alexander said.

One client left a suit bag in a town car and flew to Los Angeles. So, an RMA Worldwide employee hopped on a cross-country flight, too, delivering the bag on time for the client’s meeting.

“What did I bill him for that?” Alexander said. “Zero. That’s what you do. We want to be in the ‘great’ column.”

And peers in the limo business put the company in that group.

Each year, the Taxicab, Limousine, and Paratransit Association takes nominations from industry experts for Limo Operator of the Year. On average, the association receives five nominations, said Alfred LaGasse, chief executive officer for the association. A board of directors selects a winner.

“Everyone knows you’ve got to be a star,” LaGasse said. “We’re not looking for the average operation. We’re looking for an above average operator.”

Alexander is well-known and active in the business, LaGasse said. An operator from California nominated Alexander.

“But the key here isn’t how well known or active you are,” LaGasse said. “It’s, ‘Do you run a good organization?”

Cultivating a good organization involves ensuring the happiness of your employees, Alexander said. Each chauffeur at RMA Worldwide undergoes 40 hours of training and two interviews. But drivers are selected around what can’t be taught, Alexander said. They are picked because they are nice people.

And content employees means content clients, he said.

“It’s treating people the way you want to be treated,” Alexander said. “And then some.”

abryant@gazette.net