What's In A Name?
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Verity: the fundamental state of being true or real
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Partners: our management team, our cleaners, and our clients aligned in a mutually beneficial relationship
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Group: an association of organizations focused on long-term, process improvement, and delivering better service
The Verity Beginning
It Started With Cheap Letterhead
The Verity Partners Group began as The Key People Company St. Louis on February 4, 1992. We've come a long way since Greg and Rocky Stokes opened for business on that brisk Tuesday morning in a small Crestwood office.
We'd like to say that our original name, The Key People, reflected our commitment to strategically unite key partners in mutually beneficial business relationships; but really, it was because Greg got a good deal on letterhead. What can we say? Getting a great service at a great value is in our DNA.
The Key People Company was originally founded by Greg’s dad, Bud, in Denver, Colorado, in 1973. After working for his dad for several years, Greg decided that he was ready to go out on his own. Using a sports metaphor, he would later explain that he came to a point where could either stand on the three point line and keep taking the shot for somebody else, or he could take the shot for himself. And so it was that Greg and Rocky decided to take the big leap and start their own commercial cleaning company.
After considering several cities, they decided that St. Louis, with its mixture of midwestern work ethic, and southern hospitality, was the perfect location for their new venture. It probably helped that Greg is a baseball fanatic, so, of course he felt right at home in the best baseball city in America.
In the beginning, several names were considered, but, as with any fledgling start up, cost was a consideration, and grandiose vision didn't always match financial reality. The decision was made that, at least to get things started, using the established name of The Key People Company, along with their existing logos, business card, and letterhead templates, would be more feasible. Thus ushered in our St. Louis debut as The Key People Company.
Over the last three decades, we've established ourselves as a leading commercial cleaning firm in St. Louis, working with companies in a variety of industries including financial, industrial, educational, medical, religious, and automotive, to name a few. Even as our client list has expanded to include hundreds of facilities, our steadfast commitment to quality comprehensive, customized, responsibly managed commercial janitorial solutions has remained constant.
The company was purchased, in 2003, by Mark Smalley, who decided to keep The Key People name, which by this time had become synonymous with quality, value, and relationship driven servant leadership. Building on Greg and Rocky's legacy, Mark led the company into several new industries, substantially increasing our presence beyond traditional office cleaning to include educational and religious facilities. During this time, Mark also began to lay the foundation for the expansion of our carpet cleaning and floor care business lines.
In 2021, to better reflect our business philosophy, and to clarify our independence moving into the next chapter of our story, we changed our name to The Verity Partners Group. As company president Mark Smalley explains "we love The Key People Company name and have done our absolute best to build a strong service brand here in St. Louis." He continues, "it is a name that I inherited from my former partner, Greg Stokes, when I purchased the company in 2003. As we continue to journey into the twenty-first century, we wanted to establish our own, independent identity as the premiere commercial cleaning firm serving St. Louis. Moving forward, we will continue to offer top quality, reliable commercial janitorial and floor care services that are responsibly managed and competitively priced."
January 2023, ushered in a new era for The Verity Partners Group as longtime Director of Operations, Melaina Gautieri, became co-owner, and was named Managing Partner. Drawing not only on her many years here at Verity, but also on her extensive corporate background, Melaina continues to lead our team as we prepare for many more years of continuing to serve St. Louis.
We appreciate the opportunity to partner with you.
How we're different
Why Verity?
At The Verity Partners Group, we focus on developing long-term client relationships driven by honest advice, quality service, and sustainable solutions. Striving for excellence in all we do, our management team and janitorial professionals carefully listen to and assess the specific needs of each client, developing a service plan with both the expertise and flexibility to deliver results.
Relationship Driven
There's a reason we measure client relationships in decades. At The Verity Partners Group, everything we do is geared towards developing a long term, personalized relationship with each client. Beginning with our initial consultation, we seek to clarify the needs and expectations of each client and use or industry knowledge and experience to solve problems and deliver sustainable results.
Excellence, not perfection
At Verity, we don't promise perfection, we deliver excellence. This means that every service, every day, we will give our absolute best. It also means that, if something isn't quite right, we will work quickly to determine the root cause, adjust our processes, and resolve the issue promptly.
Straight Forward Answers, Candid Advice
There are plenty of cleaning companies that will tell people what they want to hear. That's not Verity. Rather than the quick fix, we partner with our clients to find long term solutions. Our commitment is to using our 30-plus years of experience to identify the root cause of underlying challenges, and to suggest the services, cleaning products, and floor care strategies that will best meet the needs of each facility.
