Francisco Rivera does windows

Salvadoran immigrant honored as tops in the world by international trade group

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Rivera was the top window cleaner in the world last year, according to the International Window Cleaning Association of Alexandria, Va., a trade group with more than 650 member companies from more than 25 countries, according to its Web site.

Rivera, the 29-year-old director of ground operations at Gaithersburg’s Kevco Building Services Inc., was named 2005 Window Cleaner of the Year from among the top professionals in the window cleaning industries in the United States and abroad.

A native of El Salvador, Rivera is also a mentor, teacher and role model for other workers, said Kenny Cohn, Kevco president. Cohn said Rivera has met every challenge at Kevco, one of the region’s major outdoor cleaning firms.

‘‘Companies cannot succeed without great people like Francisco,” Cohn said. ‘‘They are the difference between success and failure of any kind of company.”

Eleven years ago, Rivera took a bus from El Salvador to the United States without knowing a word of English and with little money in his pocket. He mastered English, obtained a permanent resident card and, this year, bought a house in Gaithersburg. He sends money home regularly to his parents and three sisters still living in San Miguel.

For Kevco, Rivera has cleaned windows at the U.S. Capitol, House and Senate office buildings, Smithsonian Institution buildings, the Riggs Bank brownstone building, Comcast Center and the Promenade Apartments in Bethesda. He is now Kevco’s lead supervisor on several major projects, including Dulles International and Reagan National airports.

The kind of steady work Rivera has found in the United States was not available to him as an 18-year-old in El Salvador, he said. ‘‘I would work very hard for a day and then there would not be work for many more days,” he said.

So he immigrated. When he reached Fairfax, Va., Rivera’s former neighbor and friend from El Salvador, who had settled in Gaithersburg, found him through other contacts. His first job was at a Chinese restaurant in Gaithersburg. When he learned that his friend’s roommate made good money washing windows for Kevco, he checked it out.

‘‘He was so determined that I could tell right away that he had a strong desire to work hard,” Cohn said.

For the first three years at Kevco, Rivera bicycled about 7 miles each way to work. In ‘‘sun, rain or snow, he would be here,” Cohn said.

‘‘He has never said no to a challenge and as a result he can now do almost anything at the company, and he teaches other workers that if you try hard and set goals you will succeed,” Cohn said. Almost all of Kevco’s 30 employees are immigrants, he said.

Rivera was promoted from a residential window-cleaning crew supervisor to manager of the residential division and finally to director of ground operations. ‘‘Each facility has its own set of issues, but Francisco is always calm, cool and collected, even on a 40-foot ladder or hydraulic lift,” Cohn said.

The window-washing business is highly competitive, as younger people often try to take away Kevco’s customers, Cohn said. ‘‘I still think you are only as good as the last job you did, so I would take 10 Francisco Riveras any day of the week.”

Rivera, who is single, is not all about work, however. On weekends for the past five years, he has managed his own DJ service, Party Mix 2000, featuring Latino music and dance tunes. Last year, Rivera brought in his music and amplifiers for Kevco’s company picnic.

This report originally appeared in The Business Gazette.