AFFILIATE
A Business Owner Bent on Helping Thousands Roland Thoms, Varsity Painting CACM Affiliate Member since 2005 Roland Thoms with his daughter Camille By Emily Stegman
If Roland Thoms ever tried to count the number of lives he’s touched, he may lose count after the first couple thousand. First, he’d have to start with the 1,000 or so college students he recruited for a student painting program from 1993-2004. The program aimed to teach high achieving college students how to run their own branch of a house painting business for a summer. The internship allowed students to learn how to source business leads, hire staff members and manage the day-to-day operations of a lucrative painting business. Kim Erlenwein went through the program with Thoms for the first time in 2001. “I was 21 years old, and in nine months I learned how to run my own business,” Erlenwein says. “I sold $150,000 in paint jobs, hired nine painters and earned $45,000 in one summer – and I never looked back.” She is now the Vice President of Varsity Painting’s Southern California division.
Thoms all dressed up at Varsity Painting’s 2010 Halloween Bash, which is one of the company’s main fundraising events for tumor research.
Erlenwein said she has remained a faithful employee because of Thoms’ commitment to her success over the years. “One of Roland’s greatest attributes as a partner, boss, mentor, coach and friend is he will always continue to nourish your success and growth. He is a believer in great work Do you know a CACM Affiliate ethic, having fun and always challenging Member who has an inspiring story yourself to take it to the next level,” she to tell? says.
After nearly 10 years of successfully running the student program, Thoms established Varsity Painting as a more traditional painting contractor business in 2004. The Walnut Creek-based company now employs nearly 100 staff members (including three executives who went through the student program) and primarily serves multi-unit residential housing complexes. The company offers in-house color consultations, where digital color renderings are created for clients based on the colors they’re interested in. 50
Vision Summer 2013 | www.cacm.org
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