TIMELINE:

1949  –  The Charles E. Thomas Company was founded  by Charles (Jeff) E. Thomas and his wife, Theresa.  The business originally focused on servicing & re-building gas pump meters.  Working from their home garage, Jeff and Theresa were the only two employees of the company.

 

1955 –  Jeff and Theresa’s son Jerry joined the company.  After a couple of years the business began to grow significantly.  The office and all operations were re-located to a larger property at 112th and Vermont Streets in Los Angeles.

 

1971 – Jeff Thomas, Founder and President passed away.  Jerry was named President, due to the continuous growth of the company additional employees were hired including, Bill Richter (Executive Vice President, retired) handled the dispatching of service calls.  Brian Hurley (Current Vice President – Technical Services) was brought in as a field technician.

 

1972 –  All office and operations were moved to the Gardena location in 1973, where the company resides today.  Since 1973, CE Thomas has purchased five additional buildings on Alma Street, in order to accommodate increased business and staff levels while adding additional technical service capabilities also.

 

1975-  Ann Thomas joined the company full time.  Currently the CFO, Ann has held several key operational positions throughout her career.  Those include; Vice President of Finance, Financial Executive, Corporate Secretary, and has been involved with all facets of company personnel, contract negotiations, vendor relations, and customer support since 1975.

 

1978 – The CE Thomas builds the first AM/PM store for ARCO.

 

1993 – Greg Thomas was named Vice President of the Construction Department.

 

2000 – The CETEC Division was formed.  CETEC specializes in electronic POS (Point of Sale) and PIC (Payment Island Cashier) equipment.  This division handles POS projects nationwide, and provides service for POS systems throughout WA, OR and CA.

 

2007 – The Car Wash Division was formed, which handles construction for all types of car wash projects throughout California.

 

2014- Greg was named President of the company and now oversees the Construction, Compliance, Service, and Car Wash Divisions.