Founded in 1930, IEHA now has fifty-two chapters around the world.
IEHA, formerly the International Executive Housekeepers Association, is a 3,200-member professional organization for persons employed in facility, environmental or housekeeping services at the management level. As facility professionals and executive housekeepers, our members in management direct housekeeping and environmental programs in commercial, industrial, healthcare, hospitality or institutional facilities. They supervise staffs ranging from a few to several hundred people, and handle budgets from a few thousand to millions of dollars. The IEHA Board of Directors oversees fifty-two chapters around the world.
Founding Members
Our organization was founded in 1930 by seventeen women leaders in the hotel industry. It’s interesting that today hotels represent sixteen percent of our membership, healthcare and nursing homes fifty-five percent, schools and colleges ten percent. The balance is mostly casino ships, airports and public facilities.
IEHA provides members with an array of channels through which to achieve personal and professional growth. We provide leadership opportunities at the chapter level as well as an employment referral service. We have partnerships with the ISSA/ INTERCLEAN convention, HousekeepingChannel.com and the Healthy Facilities Institute. We also host a technical-question social forum on our website called IEHA Unify and have a technicalbook- sales department with member discounts. We produce the world-recognized monthly publication Executive Housekeeping Today, offered in print and digital format. The publication contains articles on current industry trends, staffing, infection control, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, green cleaning and sustainability, product information, management techniques and a host of other important issues to help our members navigate the cleaning and facilities world.
Excellent Training Courses
IEHA provides excellent training courses. Our certified and registered programs are nationally recognized. Currently there are more than eight hundred that carry the Registered Executive Housekeeper and Certified Executive Housekeeper designations. We also provide the IEHA Certification Boot Camp for a hands-on training program. Through our Professional Education Credentialing Program, members have an extremely effective and expanded means of securing education, training and certification.
IEHA is also striving to promote the profession to the indoor environmental stewards of the future. It is imperative that administrators and general managers understand the importance of this. With constantly changing building standards, technology, career opportunities and the increasing need for education, our membership and the industry need a strong, vital association to keep up with current events.
Notably, former first lady Barbara Bush accepted honorary IEHA membership in the early 1990s. Her spirit of service to others and her widely held reputation as a kind and caring person still serve to remind us of our goal: to do our best in the work we have chosen and to be considerate of the rights and feelings of our employees and fellow workers.
IEHA is the best indoor environment and facility leadership association to provide members and the community with excellent benefits, terrific networking and the opportunity to meet and find solutions to environmental challenges.
Beth B. Risinger is the CEO/Executive Director for the IEHA, located in Westerville, Ohio. She has been with the association since 1987 and has more than thirty-seven years of experience in the society and association fields. Click here for more info or to join.
