COMPANY HISTORY
John A. and Nancy Cheney formed Southwest Sanitary Company (SWS) in 1952. Their goal was to build a client base by providing sanitation and housekeeping products to businesses. The Cheney’s wanted to create a “service-oriented” company that met specific needs of their customers rather than providing a generic product base. SWS became a major distributor of national brands, such as, Johnson Wax, Rubbermaid, 3M, Scott Paper and more.
By the late 1960’s, SWS had several major national accounts, including, Texas Instruments, General Motors, and Vought Aircraft. SWS also served many schools districts, city and county municipalities, hospitals and individual businesses. No account was too big or too small to receive special attention from SWS.
In 1995, the daughter of John and Nancy Cheney, Camille Cheney Fournier, acquired SWS. Camille Fournier has continued to operate SWS as a minority company, as she is a Native American woman. SWS has continued to grow and change to meet the needs of the current client base as well as building new relationships to carry SWS in to the future with assistance from her brother Bobby Cheney. Fournier added re-distribution of food service products in 2002 and in 2008, Southwest Sanitary Company assumed the name of SWS Re-Distribution Company, Inc. to better describe all the services that are encompassed. SWS aids their distributors by consolidating products to a single source, managing their freight costs and providing them with one source of communication for products, pricing and shipments.
SWS is a re-distributor to the food service industry as well as a manufacturer and distributor of janitorial supplies. The company’s headquarters is located in North Dallas with warehouses in North Dallas and Indianapolis, IN. SWS was recognized as #1 on The List of Private Companies by the Dallas Business Journal in 2004 and 2005 and the #2 Fastest Growing Private Business in North Texas in 2006. They were also named as a Top Minority Owned Business by GM in 2005 and the 3rd largest Minority Company in the Metroplex by The Dallas Morning News. SWS is proud of its history and how it has evolved over the years. Our goal is to continue being service oriented which follows our motto that:
“WE ARE EASY TO DO BUSINESS WITH!”
CAMILLE CHENEY FOURNIER
CEO/Owner
Camille Cheney Fournier is a 4th generation Dallasite, a 1975 graduate of Ursuline Academy and a 1979 graduate of The University of Texas at Austin. Camille began her career working in the Buying offices of Joske’s, an Allied Corporation. In 1982, she began working at SWS where she learned the business from the ground up. In the beginning she oversaw the bookkeeping as well as AP and HR. She moved into sales where she became the company’s highest achiever. Camille was fortunate to learn the inside operations of a company from her mother, Nancy Cheney and the outside sales from her father, John Cheney. She acquired Southwest Sanitary Company in 1996 from her parents after the death of her father. John and Nancy Cheney started the company in 1952 where Ms. Fournier continues to oversee the daily operations of the Native American owned business.
BOBBY CHENEY
President
Bobby Cheney began his career at Southwest Sanitary in the mid 70’s after attending The University of North Texas. He immediately began to specialize his customer base in the food industry. In 1980 Bobby owned SSDC, a manufacturer of cleaning chemicals, and in 2000 he sold SSDC to EcoLab. In 2002 Bobby again became active at SWS by bringing his expertise in restaurant knowledge to the table. He and his sister, Camille, redeveloped the original company into a re-distribution company servicing distributors of restaurants worldwide.
DAVE FOURNIER
General Manager
Dave Fournier oversees the Dallas and Indianapolis locations. He grew up in Houston and went on to attend Jesuit College Preparatory School in Dallas. He graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station in 1978 with a BBA in management with a concentration in computer science. Upon graduation, Dave joined SWS as a purchasing agent. Through the course of more than 30 years he has been an integral part of the company’s evolution from a janitorial supply business into the re-distribution business SWS is today.
LYNN ROBERTSON
Controller
Lynn Robertson graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA in Accounting in 1979. Lynn started her accounting career at Southwest Savings Association and continued as a contractor with the Resolution Trust Corporation until 1996. She was employed with Double Diamond Companies from 1997 until 2008 earning the title of Vice President responsible for the accounting department. She came to work at SWS in October 2008 as Controller.
LAUREN FOURNIER DIEBEL
International Purchasing | Business Development
Lauren Fournier Diebel joined SWS in the fall of 2009 after working in New York City as a buyer in the fashion industry. The move back to Dallas was made easy by Lauren’s passion for her family’s company which was instilled by her mother’s success and leadership. Lauren considers her roles at SWS to be integral to the company’s growth and livelihood and her Native American roots help SWS maintain a strong American presence coupled with a sincere commitment to the environment. Lauren was a double major at Southern Methodist University, majoring in both Advertising and Psychology. These degrees help her relay business messages to companies and individuals in a concise and meaningful manner. Lauren is motivated to establish new opportunities for SWS and works to maintain strong ties with current and longstanding business relationships.
SWS Re-Distribution Company, Inc. | 3102 Miller Park S, Suite 100 |Garland, TX 75042 | 972-466-9720
