About Service Master

About ServiceMaster Commercial Cleaning

About ServiceMaster®

Originally founded as a mothproofing company in 1929 by Marion E. Wade, a former minor league baseball player, ServiceMaster had its beginnings in Chicago where Wade worked out of his home. Wade had a strong personal faith and a desire to honor God in all he did.


Translating this into the marketplace, Mr. Wade and his successors Ken Hansen and Ken Wessner shaped what became our company objectives:



ServiceMaster expanded to carpet cleaning in 1952, establishing one of America’s first franchise businesses. Today, ServiceMaster Clean provides carpet, window, furniture, and drapery cleaning; janitorial services; and disaster restoration services to over 700,000 customers through over 3,000 franchises in the United States, Canada and 14 other countries throughout the world. ServiceMaster has since built on the original franchise business, expanding from our consumer business to form a network of quality service companies.

About Our Local Franchise: ServiceMaster Commercial Cleaning

ServiceMaster Commercial Cleaning began in Danville, VA in 1996. Additional locations were established in Christiansburg in 2004 and Roanoke in 2006. Currently, janitorial service is being provided to over 175 facilities with a staff of over 125 employees. Great pride is taken in customer retention by providing prompt quality service. Our very first customer is still a loyal customer after 18 years.

About Gale Thompson, Owner of ServiceMaster Commercial Cleaning

Gale Thompson is an alumnus of Carson Newman College, where he was a distance runner on the cross country and track teams. After graduating in 1978 with a degree in Business Management, he began what would become a 14-year career in the insurance industry. He left that industry behind in 1996 to start a ServiceMaster franchise in Danville, VA. His son Adam joined him in the business after graduating from Radford in 2005 and currently serves as Director of Operations.


Gale and his wife of 39 years, Paige, are active members of Central Presbyterian Church. In addition to their son Adam, they have a daughter (Bethany) and two grandchildren (Harper and Cole). In his spare time, Gale enjoys hobby farming on his grandparents’ farm in Abington, where he now resides.
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