While working in bookkeeping and accounting during her college years, Ana Liranzo happened to notice the lack of quality control demonstrated by the company contracted to clean the office building, and she knew that she could do better. Inspired by that lingering memory and experience, she began her entrepreneurial journey by becoming certified in the building services industry, then opening and operating Semper Fi Systems, Inc., from 1997 to 2005, borrowing the “always faithful” business name translated from the motto of the United States Marine Corps in which she served for four years. In 1998, Ms. Liranzo founded and currently runs her Elizabeth, New Jersey-based business, Omega Maintenance Corp., where she is the owner, president, and chief executive officer.
Modeling the importance of “stick-to-itiveness” and believing in oneself, Ms. Liranzo holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology, both from Kean University in Union, New Jersey. At Omega Maintenance Corp., she has 32 employees with plans to create more jobs for people in the local community. The company specializes in cleaning medical buildings, commercial cleaning, and facility maintenance—providing services to hospitals, labs, operating rooms, warehouses, crime and trauma scenes, and offices. One of the more memorable and challenging jobs was being called in to provide fogging and disinfecting for COVID-19 for the Housing Authority of the City of Elizabeth, covering all the locations to provide the critical service at the beginning of the pandemic when no one knew much about COVID-19. The company gathered a team and the equipment and went into the “belly of the beast,” without hesitation recalled Ms. Liranzo, who oversees all management and supervision functions, including ensuring that materials and processes are regularly upgraded, customers are satisfied, and employees are happy and paid well, among a plethora of other duties such as staying on top of communications, holding meetings, planning, and attending networking events.
Ms. Liranzo counts her most notable achievements as being named the Person of the Year by the Boy Scouts of America in 2018 and being honored by the YMCA for her years of service to the community. She believes her personal accomplishments are the result of her open-mindedness and willingness to keep moving forward. She’s also grateful to her mentor Gordon F. Haas of the Greater Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce for his ongoing support and helpful advice. The success of Omega Maintenance Corp, Ms. Liranzo says, stems from the company’s commitment to fulfilling the needs of the customers 24 hours a day, including always answering the phone. Intrigued and motivated by the psychology behind each customer, a highlight of her profession, Ms. Liranzo is inspired by how well customers receive their services and the changes they have helped to implement at each location.
For Ms. Liranzo, the most rewarding aspect of her career is knowing and appreciating how she started in business, where she came from, and recognizing the capacity for expansion. In the next five to 10 years, she wants to reorganize the company so that it has a branch that specializes strictly in professional cleaning services while she focuses her efforts solely on crime and trauma scenes investigated by the police. In addition, she plans to expand her business into southern and western states and ultimately grow to national levels.
Fueled in part by a strong sense of civic responsibility, Ms. Liranzo serves on the board of directors of YWCA USA and has devoted her leadership expertise to area chambers of commerce for Greater Elizabeth, Gateway Regional, Monmouth Regional, Jersey Shore, Union Township, and The Parks as well as volunteered for many years at the Elizabeth Development Company, Trinitas Regional Medical Center, the Workforce Advantage Board, Boy Scouts of America, the Patriot’s Path Council, Cleaning for a Reason free cleaning services to cancer patients, Sisters of Charity, Clean For Care, and other nonprofit organizations.
Ms. Liranzo is married to John Harrison and the mother of Brunei, Gabriella, and twins Oliver and Ryleigh. She enjoys traveling with her family and savoring different cuisines.
