NCMA Welcomes New Member – Ecolab

On December 6, 2018, NCMA Board of directors approved an application for membership submitted by Ecolab.  Headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, Ecolab employs approximately 47,000 people and operates in more than 170 countries. Ecolab has 800 employees in North Carolina.

Ecolab provides water, hygiene and energy technologies and services to the food, energy, healthcare, industrial and hospitality markets.

Merritt J. "M.J." Osborn founded Economics Laboratory in 1923. The company's original product was Absorbit, a product designed to quickly clean carpets in hotel rooms. This was soon followed by Soilax, a dishwasher soap. During the 1930s and 1940s, the company expanded throughout the United State. It acquired the Magnus Company in the early 1950s, which gave the company access to Magnus's industrial specialty businesses - including pulp and paper, metalworking, transportation, and petrochemical processing.

In 1984, Ecolab acquired pest elimination leader Lystads, Inc., of Grand Forks, North Dakota. This was the first of many regional pest service firms acquired to create a national pest elimination business (of recent note, Ecolab owns Royal Pest Company, which is in the middle of the controversy over methyl bromide fumigation of logs for overseas shipment).

In 1986, the company changed its name from Economics Laboratory to Ecolab Inc. and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Among the many companies owned by Ecolab, one of the better known and more recognized companies is Nalco, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecolab in 2011.

NCMA’s principle contact with the company will be Sean Keefer.  Sean is the Director of State and Local Government Affairs for Ecolab. Please join us in welcoming Ecolab to NCMA!