Olympia & Wheaton Move CEO of the American Moving & Storage Association

AMSA ProMoverOlympia is proud to be an American Moving & Storage Association (AMSA) ProMover. This organization represents the interests of quality professional movers through policy, advocacy, and education for both its movers and the consumer. Their ProMover certification program is key to helping fight “rogue movers,” dishonest or non-professional movers that cause the moving horror stories you may see in the media. The goal of the ProMover certification is to help the consumer identify professional, quality movers from among the pack.

Linda Bauer Darr, the president and CEO of the American Moving & Storage Association, has put a tremendous amount of work and dedication into providing Americans with a quality relocation experience. Nobody knows moving better than Linda Darr, so when it was time for her to move, she chose Wheaton World Wide and Olympia Moving & Storage to provide her relocation.

Linda Darr was already familiar with our company’s quality, as this was her second move with us. Upon the completion of her move, she sent us this thoughtful message:

“Thanks to Olympia Moving and the Wheaton Bekins team, I am happily ensconced in my new home in [northern Virginia]. The move went off without a hitch, just like it did last time your company moved me. The van operators and crew were fast, efficient, courteous and just all-around willing to help in any way possible to get the job done well. And they did what I know is a taxing physical job with smiles on their faces. What a tremendous team you have and your guys should make you proud – they made me proud of our industry and truly exemplified the ProMover mindset.

I want to especially recognize Rashod Butler and his crew of Marcel Buliga, Alexandru Aidinov, Andrei Talasman, Jorge Prada and Jo-Nathan Kelly who took such great care of my move and were unfailingly helpful and professional. I also want to thank Doug Myers, the General Manager at Olympia for his efforts coordinating with me to insure that it all went smoothly.

Thanks for everything you do for your customers and for our industry. And thanks for your personal support of my move. I couldn’t be happier with the results!

Best wishes to everyone at Wheaton Bekins and Olympia from your friends at AMSA!

Linda Bauer Darr
President & CEO
American Moving & Storage Association”

Thank you Linda for taking the time to recognize our crew!  Click here to learn more about our crew, and if you want to hire our excellent crew, request an estimate.

Linda Darr also recently spoke to ABC news about the 8 Things You Need to Know Before Moving, an essential read for anyone planning a move!

Meet Our Growing Team!

For moving companies, it’s the people that make all the difference.  From our crews on the trucks, to our sales and coordination team, to our office support staff, Olympia always hires talented people who put the needs of our clients first.

Winter may be a slower time for moving, but the Olympia team doesn’t hibernate through the season.  The company always takes advantage of the time to add improvements to the client experience, train the staff, and move the company forward.  Most importantly, winter is the perfect time to hire new members of the Olympia team and prepare them for the busy summer season.

This winter, Olympia made more hires and added more new roles than ever before, marking landmark growth for the company.  In addition to hiring several drivers and many new crew members, we added NINE new staff members to the office support staff, increasing our support staff 38%!

Customer Service

Candace Longo
Amy Grant
Meaghan Mitchell

The biggest expansion was to our relocation coordination team, giving us the ability have an individual relationship with each client leading up to, during, and after their move.  We added four new members to the department.  Candace Longo, Amy Grant, and Meaghan Mitchell joined us as part of the Clark & Reid acquisition.  Between them they have a combined 20 years of experience in relocation coordination.    Candace will be leading the team as the department manager, her motto is that if the client feels they are not getting exceptional service at any point in the move process, she wants the coordination team to know!

Operations

Oscar Padilla
Keith McEwen
Travis Swalbach

In the fall, Oscar Padilla, formerly VP of a NYC-based moving solution company, joined Olympia to lead the operations department as VP of Operations.  Since then, he’s reorganized the operations department to maximize efficiency, play to the strengths of our current staff, and increase the experience level of our highly-trained moving crew.  As part of this re-organization, two new members were added to the operations office staff.  Keith McEwen has worked with Olympia for many years as one of our top movers, and will leverage this experience in his promotion to Operations Manager in our Boston office.  Travis Swalbach joined Olympia as Warehouse Manager.  He’ll use his seven years of warehouse management experience, most recently with Coca Cola, to optimize the important storage branch of our business.

Sales

Mike Smith
Hampton Watson

The Olympia Office Movers branch of our company added new commercial move consultants as part of our continuing expansion of commercial moving services.  Mike Smith, who is joining us as a Commercial Sales Manager in the Boston office, comes to Olympia from working in the relocation industry in the U.K. for over 25 years.  He worked for both Pickfords and TransEuro before establishing his own relocation company.  Hampton Watson III comes to Olympia from working at Ryder, the well-known American-based provider of transportation and supply chain management products.  He will be a Commercial Sales Manager in the Washington D.C. office.

We’re really excited to see what these talented individuals will contribute to Olympia!

Click here to meet the rest of the Olympia team.

Olympia Continues Work With Alzheimer’s Association

995710_10153020635145725_150788514_nOlympia Moving & Storage is entering our second year in partnering with the Alzheimer’s Association of New England.

Each year the Alzheimer’s Association holds two great events – The Walk to End Alzheimer’s and the RUN TRI RIDE to End Alzheimer’s.

Our friendly Olympia crew is always well-received by both Alzheimer’s Association employees and volunteers as well as participants in their events.

We just completed the RUN TRI RIDE event a few weeks ago. Event coordinator Angela Floro had the following to say:

“Olympia Moving has been a tremendous partner with the Alzheimer’s Association fundraising events. In July, Olympia Moving helped with our Ride to End Alzheimer’s. This event is a one day cycling event and we had a record breaking year with 450 cyclists and we are entering our goal of $500,000! We truly could not have put on this event without Lou and his crew. They were outstanding in every way. Thank you for your support!”

We are looking forward to the Walk to End Alzheimer’s event next month in September. Events take place throughout New England. Please consider joining the event…and say hello to Olympia while you are there! http://www.alz.org/manh

Do you need help preparing for a renovation or another type of commercial move? Please feel free to contact Despina Sidiropoulos in commercial business development at dsidiropoulos@olympiamoving.com or visit this link to set up a free estimate.  We’d welcome the opportunity to discuss our services with you.

Read more about Olympia’s commercial moving experiences

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Project Managers Are Back For More!

Doug & Despina from our commercial moving department with Gretchen Griffin of Lend Lease at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Olympia Office Movers in Alexandria, VA recently completed a large hotel project on Fort Myer and are set to assist with a similar project on Fort Belvoir.

The project manager for both projects stated that “Olympia’s installers and movers are the best I have ever had in my 22 years in this industry…We know that our larger and more complex project at Ft. Belvoir will be a smooth as our first with Olympia.”

Fort Belvoir is set to renovate a 164 room hotel, which will serve as rooms for families of our men and women in the Army. This renovation will give families of our servicemen adequate housing while they visit their loved ones on base.

Do you need help preparing for a renovation or another type of commercial move? Please feel free to contact Despina Sidiropoulos in commercial business development at dsidiropoulos@olympiamoving.com or visit this link to set up a free estimate.  We’d welcome the opportunity to discuss our services with you.

Read more about Olympia’s commercial moving experiences

PDF version of this newsletter

When Boston-Area Students Take a Break – Olympia Heats Up!

Give 'N Go
Olympia manned the Give N’ Go stations on the Bentley University campus

Summer is the season when students from local schools, colleges and universities take time off to relax before next year…but for Olympia Office Movers, our “busy season” begins!

Each summer Olympia spends a significant amount of time in Boston area schools and on campuses assisting staff with renovations, special projects or moves. As usual, this year runs the gamut!

For full school moves, Olympia will be assisting Harborlight-Stoneridge Montessori School move and decommission the existing Stoneridge campus in Beverly to merge it with the Harborlight campus.

As for special projects, Olympia is proud to assist Bentley University this year with their Give ‘N Go program. Olympia is helping to collect unwanted items from departing students and deliver them to local charities.

Of course, many ask about one of our biggest projects of the year – the Northeastern University Move In and Move Out assistance. At the end of each school year, and the beginning of the next, Olympia sends a small army of our Boston movers to assist the students and parents with the loading/unloading process.

Do you need help preparing for a renovation or another type of commercial move? Please feel free to contact Rob Weeks in commercial business development at rweeks@olympiamoving.com or visit this link to set up a free estimate.  We’d welcome the opportunity to discuss our services with you.

Read more about Olympia’s commercial moving experiences

PDF version of this newsletter

Olympia helps all sides on move for Boston non-profit

Root Cause
Root Cause is sharing their excitement about their new space on their Facebook

Root Cause is a non-profit research and consulting firm that works to advance solutions to today’s toughest social issues. They also recently selected Olympia Moving & Storage to relocate their corporate offices from Cambridge to Boston.

Olympia did double duty for this job. Root Cause decided to purchase new furniture from local furniture vendor National Premier Partners, who in turn hired Olympia to deliver and install the new workstations, seating, and conference furniture.

Olympia used our own in-house installation team to set up the new work spaces from National Premier Partners.

Upon successful completion of the move, Root Cause realized there was a substantial amount of old furniture and items that no longer had value. Olympia was hired again, this time to provide Disposal Services using our partnerships with local recycling centers.

Root Cause is now comfortably in their new space, enjoying their new furniture, and Olympia Moving & Storage was happy we could help on many levels! Says Tania Green, Root Cause’s Marketing and Communications Manager, “The Olympia team far exceeded our expectations; their thorough communication, flexibility, and friendly movers make the experience hassle-free. We were able to focus on the excitement of moving to a new space rather than the stress of getting there.”

Do you need help preparing for an office move or another type of commercial move? Please feel free to contact Rob Weeks in commercial business development at rweeks@olympiamoving.com or visit this link to set up a free estimate.  We’d welcome the opportunity to discuss our services with you.

Read more about Olympia’s commercial moving experiences

PDF version of this newsletter

Olympia works to renovate hotels for DC military families

Olympia at Fort Belvoir
Olympia on the job at Fort Belvoir

Olympia Moving & Storage is at it again! For the past three months our commercial movers out of Alexandria, VA have been working with a military logistics firm at Fort Myer in Arlington, VA. The project was to assist with renovating a 50 room hotel on Fort Myer.

This project has Olympia using its full menu of commercial moving services: warehousing, deliveries, installation, and debris removal.

Olympia received all of the new furniture for this project at our warehouse, and over the past several months we worked to ensure the renovation went as smoothly as possible.

Brock, a site foreman on the job, said “I have worked on similar projects across the country and Olympia has been by far the easiest to work with.  We get what we need from them when we need it and couldn’t ask for more.”

Recently, Olympia has been asked to assist with a similar but much larger project at Fort Belvoir. This project will certainly be a welcome challenge and our staff will no doubt handle it with the professionalism and competence we demonstrate on every commercial move!

Do you need help preparing for a renovation or another type of commercial move? Please feel free to contact Rob Weeks in commercial business development at rweeks@olympiamoving.com or visit this link to set up a free estimate.  We’d welcome the opportunity to discuss our services with you.

Read more about Olympia’s commercial moving experiences

PDF version of this newsletter

Olympia Makes Room For Better Living at Howard University

Howard University dorms
Dormitories at Howard University

Howard University, located in Washington DC, first hired Olympia Moving & Storage in April 2012 for a small project on their NE campus.  Since then, Howard University has used our services to remove old furniture from eight dormitories.

In August, we were called in to remove the contents from over 600 dorm rooms across the campus.  After twelve trailer loads and working non-stop through three very hot days, Howard’s dorms were cleared and ready for some much needed remodeling.

More recently, Howard hired Olympia Moving to come back to their campus and empty an additional 200 dorm rooms.  We were asked to accomplish the task in a two day window and on short notice.   Howard’s campus staff was supposed to be taking a much needed vacation, but was asked to come in.  Remarked one staff member, “I wasn’t too happy about having to work today, but when I saw Olympia arrive to work on my building, I knew it would be a short day.”  Once again, we completed a large project under budget and before deadline.

Do you need help preparing for a renovation or another type of commercial move? Please feel free to contact Rob Weeks in commercial business development at rweeks@olympiamoving.com or visit this link to set up a free estimate.  We’d welcome the opportunity to discuss our services with you.

Harvard Business Publishing benefits from Olympia’s versatility

Harvard Business PublishingHarvard Business Publishing, located in Watertown, MA, first hired Olympia Moving & Storage about a year ago for a small internal move. Since then, HBP has used our services numerous times including some large and unique projects.

Perhaps the most unique was when HBP asked us to clean and organize their “very full” 20,000 sq. ft. warehouse. Having completed similar projects for other large companies, our crew was ready with a plan. Over the course of three days we inventoried, organized, and stocked all the materials in the warehouse. In addition, we removed 7,000 lbs. of unwanted items to a recycling center.

The crew even got creative. Surplus cubicle panels were used to create more useful areas within the warehouse, including a bike corral for employees. It was a challenging task, but Olympia met it on time and on budget.

More recently, Harvard Business Publishing hired us to help with an internal “re-stack” of over 300 employees. We moved all the employees’ belongings to their new location and disconnected, moved, and reconnected each employee’s computer. We also broke down, moved, and re-built a large number of cubicles within the office. All these services were performed simultaneously over two weeks and were once again finished on time and under budget.

If you’re thinking about a commercial move, please feel free to contact Rob Weeks in commercial business development at rweeks@olympiamoving.com or visit this link to set up a free estimate.  We’d welcome the opportunity to discuss our services with you.

PDF version of this newsletter

Olympia Moving & Storage keeps busy at the new Riverworks Complex

Riverworks Complex Watertown MAGot a 100-year-old historic bell to move? The Riverworks Complex of Watertown, MA did, and they knew to trust Olympia Moving & Storage with the job.

The Riverworks Complex, the former headquarters for Boston Scientific, was recently transformed into 200,000 sq. ft. of Class A office space. Their first major tenant, The Alzheimer’s Association of New England, chose Olympia Moving & Storage to move them into their new space on the 2nd floor.

According to office manager Kate Robinson, “It was a pleasure to work with such professionals. Your guys were, to the man, respectful, pleasant and hardworking.” They were so impressed with our services that they hired us to assist with their two biggest charity events: the Walk to End Alzheimer’s and the Memory Ride.

News of good service travels fast, and Education Resource Strategies, another new Riverworks tenant, also hired Olympia to move them into their new 11,000 sq. ft. office and remove and dispose of furniture in their old space.

Riverworks’ property management company, Farley White, noticed Olympia’s hard work and professionalism and hired us to relocate a historic bell, which had been located in the complex’s bell tower for over 100 years, to the facility’s main lobby.

If you’re thinking about a commercial move, please feel free to contact Rob Weeks in commercial business development at rweeks@olympiamoving.com or visit this link to set up a free estimate.  We’d welcome the opportunity to discuss our services with you.

PDF version of this newsletter