OUTREACH: At its Fall Membership Meeting in Dallas earlier this month, StarNet, the commercial flooring cooperative, decided to send a five-member delegation to Domotex-asia to explore the possibility of accessing products as well as scouting vendors and potential suppliers. StarNet’s interest in the show, which will be held in Shanghai at the end of March, was prompted by the many inquiries it receives from all over the world requesting the group represent its company or its products. StarNet, which will celebrate its 15th anniversary in April, has 159 members in 273 locations, including eight in Canada. Now, it is broadening its reach and seeking to recruit members in Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe. It’s more than a Star, its a Supernova.

ADVOCATE: At the meeting, the group was informed that Bentley Prince Street has announced its endorsement of StarNet’s Maintenance Program, a national effort in which most members participate. With the cleaning industry so fragmented, the Maintenance Program was conceived and implemented a few years ago and has enjoyed great success. Bentley Prince Street is solidly behind the program and is encouraging its sales people to sell it as aggressively as they do the company’s products. Lori Dowling, StarNet’s president and CEO, said this was a momentous occasion, a turning point for the group, marking the first time a vendor supported and promoted one of its programs.

MIG 500: His name is Lew Migliore. We call him Mig. I met him 20 years ago, just prior to the launch of Floor Covering News. Some months later, he called me and asked if he could write a column for our publication, a regular feature on claims. I wondered how articles dealing with claims could be interesting. I don’t know, I mused and then suggested that he put a column on a record and sell it to insomniacs. Actually, he was serious and so I asked him to write a couple of columns and submit them—if our readers were interested we’d publish them. Well, 20 years have passed and if you turn to page 13 of this issue, you will see Lew Migliore’s 500th Claims File, a landmark achievement. He is a great asset to the publication, a great friend to me and the most read columnist in the industry. Congratulations, Lew.

WONDER-PHIL: In the “Where are they now?” department, an old friend has just surfaced—Phil Haney. A couple of months ago, he was named CEO of Stanley Furniture’s Lexington Home Brands. Haney was born in Ohio, raised in Florida and lives in Greensboro, N.C. He started as a territory manager for Bigelow Carpet and rose to vice president of sales and marketing. Following the Bigelow/ Karastan merger in 1986, he became vice president of sales and later senior vice president of sales and marketing for Karastan. After two months as president of Karastan, he joined Stanley as executive vice president, marketing and sales, in 2002. He joined Bigelow when he was 21, stayed 26 years, joined Lexington when he was 47; now he’s 51 and CEO—what a career!

NAILED: In the “Remember When...” photo that appeared in our last issue, the response to the unidentified gentleman was strong and accurate. The first three people to contact us, all by e-mail, were Pete Ciganovich, executive vice president, Residential Sales, Beaulieu Group; Dennis Avgerinos of Abbey Carpet’s Flooring World, Ellicott City, Md., and Al Andersen, the Colossus of Allied Chemical. The name of the mystery man is John Lomicky and at the time of the photo—1982—he was with Carpet Fair, a retail chain headquartered in Baltimore. Nobody escapes the scrutiny of our audience.