Sharad D. Madison, is President and CEO of United Building Maintenance (UBM). The company was founded in 1991 by his late Dad, Oliver Madison. The company provides commercial building maintenance, inclusive of janitorial and engineering services, to Fortune 100 companies and high-profile clients in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. Some of UBM’s clients are Verizon, Cushman & Wakefield, Estée Lauder, JPMorgan Chase and Brandywine Realty Trust. Prior to joining UBM, Mr. Madison had a successful career in pharmaceuticals and home infusion therapy. He won numerous awards, and was one of the youngest and most successful general managers in the infusion industry.
Mr. Madison graduated with a degree in biology from Morehouse College. He attended Kellogg School of Management and Tuck Business School entrepreneurship programs. He is president of the Board of Trustees for the Boys & Girls Club of Newark, sits on the Board of Governors for TPC at Jasna Polana and is a past advisory board member of The Northern Trust/FedEx Golf Tournament.
What does Black History Month mean to you?
When I think of Black History Month, I think of my Dad, Oliver Madison. He was one of nine children, and grew up in Belvedere, South Carolina. He was almost hung as a young teenager. His mother and the white pharmacy owner begged for his life. Clearly, they were successful, and he survived. He enlisted in the Navy at approximately age 15, and traveled the world. As a result, he never received more than a ninth-grade education. Once he came out of the Navy, at 17 years old, he settled in Harlem, New York where he met my mother. He got his first job as a cleaner at the Book-of-the-Month Club in 1959. As a result of his hard work, ambition and the civil rights era, he began his ascent at National Cleaning Corp., the largest cleaning company in the country at the time. Over 32 years, Oliver rose from a cleaner to one of the first minority vice presidents in the industry. In May of 1991 he started his own company, United Building Maintenance, which was the first minority-owned company to clean a “Class A” property in New York City as a prime contractor. That opportunity was given to us by JPMorgan Chase. I still remember him proudly looking up at that building, located at 522 Fifth Avenue, with tears running down his face. He passed away, in 2004, proud of his accomplishments. He always taught my sisters and me to be twice as good at everything we did. As a result, our United team runs one of the finest service organizations anywhere. We are in our 31st year of business. I stand not only on my dad’s shoulders; I stand on the shoulders of all those who ushered us through the civil rights era and before.
UBM specializes in the delivery of incredible service, with one of the most diverse and committed workforces in the industry.
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