Meet Our Team

Alfred W. Thomas III

Alfred W. Thomas III

President

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Al Thomas was born in Greenville, SC with a textile spindle in his hand. He graduated from Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School in Kingston, PA where he was Alumni of The Year in 2007. He also graduated from Furman University in Greenville with degrees in Business and Economics. He served in the US Army in Germany as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne during the Vietnam war.

Following military service, Al worked for US Textile Machine Company in Scranton, PA and Greenville, SC. He became Vice President of the parent company and President of Utex, Inc. the sales organization.

His textile career began at the age of 16 with summer jobs at Jaunty Textiles in Scranton. It was a filament twisting, weaving, dyeing and finishing operation. The plant ran primarily nylon but also some silk. He began in the twisting department and worked in every area of yarn preparation including warping and beaming. Al is one of the last active people in the textile industry who actually ran silk.

In 1971 he founded Thomas Textile Machinery, Inc. a textile machinery sales agency. In 1986 he merged TTM and Ernest L. Frankl Corp. an old line German textile machinery sales agency to form Frankl & Thomas, Inc. which is the oldest textile machinery sales agency still in business. The combination of the two organizations has been a good move. F&T has prospered since 1986.

An ardent conservationist, he and his wife Kay founded the four active chapters of The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in South Carolina.

Hobbies include snow skiing, running, biking, fishing, hunting and working at his lake house. He is also a volunteer assistant rugby coach for Greenville High School.

He has served the Republican Party in many positions since 1970. He and his family are communicants of Christ Church Episcopal. He is a member of the advisory board School of Material Science and Engineering at Clemson University. He is Alumni Trustee of Wyoming Seminary. He and Kay live in Greenville where their four adult children also have the good fortune of living.

Michael W. Alexander

Michael W. Alexander

Vice President / General Manager

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Michael was born in Alexandria Virginia into a military family. Over the course of the next 18 years, Mike lived in Europe, Hawaii, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama and Illinois.

Mike attended Southern Illinois University and graduated in 1982, with a double major in Business and Political Science. Mike was consistently on the Dean’s list, and a member of the Young Republicans on campus. Mike has taken several continuing education courses with Clemson University, NC State and the University of North Carolina.

Mike started his career with JP Stevens at the Greer Plant, which was bought and split into various companies, with Mike going to Delta Woodside. Mike was selected into the Delta Woodside “Career Enhancement Program which was a select group of young managers (5 out of 50 candidates). This was a “fast track” program for exceptional managers for the future.

Mike was later to become one of the youngest plant superintendents with Woodside at age 29. He has worked in all phases of textile manufacturing, from cotton bale to finished goods.

In 1997 a life changing event took place – Frankl & Thomas! Mike came to work for the company as sales rep charged with starting a weaving division; he was later promoted to Vice-President & General Manager. The weaving division has since become the largest division in the company.

Mike is married to his beautiful wife of 39 years Cheryl and they have three children.

Mike enjoys his world travel with F&T, reading, sports with his sons and time with his wife.

Bill Boozer

Bill Boozer

Territory Manager

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Information is currently under maintenance.

 

William L. Church

William L. Church

Territory Manager

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William “Putt” Church was born and raised in Dothan, Alabama. He attended Auburn University and graduated in 1993 with a degree in Business Administration. After graduation, Putt worked with Dixie Yarns as a management trainee and quality control manager. After his employment with Dixie Yarns, Putt took a job with GK Sales Inc. as a sales agent for open end Schlafhorst components. In 2002, Putt started Church House Inc. Church House Inc. represents 5 textile related vendors.

 

Trish Graham

Trish Graham

Comptroller

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It is no surprise that Trish pursued a career in the Textile Industry. Born in Greer, Trish’s father was employed in the textile industry for decades with JPS Industries, before his retirement. After graduating from Greer High School in 1995, Trish attended Greenville Technical College while working as a bookkeeper at BI-LO—she eventually graduated from the BI-LO School of Business, and spent one year as a Customer Service Manager. Following that, she worked for a period of time with Greer State Bank, and then Hutch-Bell Communications.

Eventually, however, the pull of the textile industry intersected with her proficiency in bookkeeping and she joined Frankl-Thomas in 2002, where she started as the Sales Administrator, but was soon promoted to Comptroller within a year. “I love my job,” Trish says, “and I am very thankful for the opportunity Frankl-Thomas gave me years ago. It’s like working for a big family.”

When she’s not crunching numbers and watching the books, Trish is busy being “mom” to her lovely girls Hannah and Kara.

Robina Hogan

Robina Hogan

Staff Engineer / Extrusion Specialist

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Robina attended Trinity College in Washington DC, receiving a bachelor of science in Math/Chemistry and Chemistry/Physics. She holds a 6-Sigma Black Belt Certification from Villanova University and has a 6-Sigma Master Black Belt Certification DMAIC & DFSS with SigmaPro.

She retired as a staff R&D Engineer from Celanese, and established Hogan Consulting LLC in September 2005. She has extensive experience in project management, 6-Sigma, statistical analysis, sales, manufacturing, product development, quality control and customer technical service. She is currently a Commercialization Manager for Fibers for the United Soybean Board through Omni Tech International Inc, working with universities and industrial partners to develop soy fibers and their commercial applications. In addition, she provides support marketing, sales, technical and new product development for Frankl-Thomas and Progression Systems Incorporated, with emphasis to broaden existing sales and develop new customers and applications.

She is serving on the AATCC board representing the Materials Interest Group since 2009.

Robina has prepared documentation for and received several process/equipment patents in polyester and acetate manufacturing for Celanese and new patent applications for soy industrial chemistry applications.

Robina is married to Dennis Hogan, has three daughters and four grand children and lives in Charlotte, NC. She loves being with her family and spends any free time relaxing at Bald Head Island.

 

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