Industry Leadership & Advisory

Indoor Health Council - Residential Cleaning Representative

Appointed April 28, 2026

Tom was appointed as the Indoor Health Council's Residential Cleaning Representative in April 2026 - the first time the IHC has had dedicated residential cleaning representation. The appointment was announced by IHC Director Allen Rathey, who noted that Tom's career "has consistently pushed the industry toward higher standards and healthier outcomes." Tom's role focuses on ensuring that residential cleaning practices are part of IHC discussions around exposure reduction, health outcomes, and practical implementation strategies for homes.

"I'm honored to join the Indoor Health Council at a time when indoor health has never been more important. Residential cleaning professionals are on the front lines of creating healthier living environments." - Tom Stewart, April 28, 2026

Key Contributions

• ✓ First-ever Residential Cleaning Representative to the IHC
• ✓ Representing cleaning professionals in indoor environmental quality discussions
• ✓ Bridging chemical-free methodology with health science
• ✓ Appointed by Allen Rathey, IHC Director and founder of INDEX (501(c)(3))

ARCSI - Association for Residential Cleaning Services International

Co-Founder & First Elected President - Early 2000s

Tom was a founding member of ARCSI, the first professional association dedicated to residential house cleaning businesses - and served as its inaugural elected president. ARCSI was built on the premise that house cleaning business owners needed a dedicated professional community: a place to benchmark, share knowledge, advocate collectively, and develop the standards that would professionalize the industry. Tom helped establish the association's early education programming, convention format, and membership community from scratch.

Key Contributions

• ✓ Founding member and first elected president
• ✓ Shaped early education curriculum and convention programming
• ✓ Built the membership community from the ground up
• ✓ Helped negotiate the 2016 ARCSI–ISSA merger

ISSA Residential

ARCSI–ISSA Merger Architect, 2016

In 2016, Tom played a key role in negotiating the strategic merger of ARCSI into ISSA - the world's largest commercial cleaning industry association. The merger dramatically expanded the reach of ARCSI's residential cleaning programs, giving house cleaning business owners access to ISSA's global network, trade show, education resources, and professional infrastructure. Tom had spent over a decade building ARCSI and saw the merger as the right next step for scaling the professional community he'd helped create.

Key Contributions

• ✓ Key negotiator in the ARCSI–ISSA merger
• ✓ Ensured residential cleaning maintained distinct representation post-merger
• ✓ Continued ISSA speaking and engagement after the merger
• ✓ Co-hosted Disruptive Innovation Summit at ISSA 2014 and 2024

Cleaning Business Today - Co-Founder

Co-Founded 2012 · First Edition April 1, 2013

Tom co-founded Cleaning Business Today with Derek Christian to fill a genuine gap: commercial-facing trade publications were common, but almost none of their content addressed the realities of residential house cleaning. The journal launched its first edition on April 1, 2013, in digital flipbook format - with industry expert articles and a regular column from cleaning legend Don Aslett. Cleaning Business Today remains an active publication serving the cleaning industry, guided by the return of Editor-in-Chief CeCe Mikell in 2025.

Key Contributions

• ✓ Co-founded with Derek Christian
• ✓ First edition April 1, 2013 - digital flipbook format
• ✓ Featured industry experts and columnist Don Aslett
• ✓ Editor-in-Chief CeCe Mikell returned to lead the publication in 2025

Disruptive Innovation Summit at ISSA

Pioneer & Co-Host - 2014 (Inaugural) & 2024 (10th Anniversary)

Tom pioneered the Disruptive Innovation Summit at the ISSA Convention in Orlando in 2014 - an event dedicated to exploring how technology would change competitive forces in the house cleaning industry. (The working title was "Disruptive Technology Summit," but that was softened.) The inaugural Summit featured live speakers including Marco Zappacosta of Thumbtack, whose platform was redefining how consumers found service providers. Tom returned to co-host the 10th anniversary edition at the 2024 ISSA Convention - a full-circle moment reflecting how dramatically the industry's technological landscape had shifted.

Key Contributions

• ✓ Pioneered the Summit concept at ISSA Convention 2014 (Orlando)
• ✓ Featured live speaker Marco Zappacosta of Thumbtack
• ✓ Returned for 10th anniversary edition at ISSA 2024
• ✓ Focused on competitive forces, technology disruption, and market evolution

Professional Cleaning Index (PCI)

Founder - Monthly Benchmark Report, 2025

Tom launched the Professional Cleaning Index in 2025 - the first standardized monthly benchmark report for the residential cleaning industry. The PCI tracks key operational and financial metrics, giving cleaning business owners real data to compare their performance against industry peers. Each monthly edition is accompanied by a live webinar. It's the kind of industry infrastructure that only gets built when someone has been inside the industry long enough to know what operators actually need to measure.

Key Contributions

• ✓ First-ever industry benchmark report for residential cleaning
• ✓ Monthly data publication + live companion webinar
• ✓ Gives operators real comparative performance data
• ✓ Based on real residential cleaning job data from over 200,000 jobs (and growing)