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James C. Gould is president and founder of the Floor Covering Institute. A 40 year veteran of the floor covering industry,
he has been recognized as "One of the Industry's 20 Most Influential Men".Mr. Gould has owned, operated and founded
multiple national and international floor covering enterprises beginning with Misco Shawnee, a full-line Midwest flooring
distributor once ranked 8th in the nation. He founded Distribution Services, Inc. to provide logistics and administrative
services to international companies and used DSI to be the first to bring new products and companies to the U.S; most
notably Pergo then Quickstep. He founded the ceramic line, Casa Italia, and used it to launch a network of ceramic
distributors. In the late 1990s Mr. Gould purchased the intellectual assets of Color Tile, Inc. from bankruptcy and formed
a new buying group, Color Tile LLC, which he later sold. In 2004 he became the first Chief Product Officer for CCA Global
Partners; while there he created CCA's first direct import division creating the opportunity for member retailers to import
directly through the CCA's portal. He formed the Floor Covering Institute in late 2007.
Contact: jgould@floorcoveringinstitute.com Ph: 314-812-2700 Visit Jim's personal page
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Mitchell Dancik is President of Dancik International, Ltd. the leading provider of software to the floor covering, ceramic
tile, and natural stone industries. Mitch has spent the past 25 years working with over 130 leading flooring companies
specializing in systems that work seamlessly for the entire supply chain. Today, more than half of all the hard-surface
flooring sold in North America is processed by Dancik software at some point on its journey from the plant to the home. As
a consultant with the Floor Covering Institute, Mitch contributes his expertise in streamlining operations and connecting
customers, distributors and suppliers through technology. Mitch’s company, Dancik International, is active in many
industry organizations, including the North American Association of Floor Covering Distributors (NAFCD), the Ceramic Tile
Distributors Association (CTDA), the Tile Council of North America (TNCA), the Floor Covering Business to Business
Association (fcB2B) and the World Floor Covering Association (WFCA).
Contact: mdancik@dancik.com Ph: 919.379.3753 Visit Mitch's personal page
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Stuart Hirschhorn is the founder of Catalina Research, Inc. which provides in-depth analysis of construction materials and
the building equipment markets including floor covering. The Catalina Report is a core industry resource that incorporates
U.S. government and proprietary business statistics and includes analysis and forecasting for shipments, imports,
exports, pricing trends, end-use markets, channels and more. Stuart works closely with leading flooring manufacturers
and distributors to analyze sales trends, import/export opportunities, distribution channel strategies and plant cost
structure. Stuart has been a speaker at leading trade shows including the annual Surfaces show in Las Vegas, Nevada and
was a featured speaker at the 2007 China Wood Flooring Export Import Conference in Hangzhou, China. His experience
as a research analyst began at Morton Research Corporation in 1969. He has continued in this genre for 30 years
becoming one of the country's most prominent resources for the flooring and the greater home construction industries.
Contact: shirschhorn@InformationGiant.com Ph: 561-988-0853 Visit Stuart's personal page
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Lew Migliore is President of LGM and Associates, a technical consulting firm specializing in all aspects of product and
installation performance and education. He is author of "The Claims File" appearing regularly in Floor Covering News. Mr.
Migliore is a 39 year industry veteran considered to be one of the floor covering industry's most respected and competent
independent analysts of flooring complaints, problems and performance issues. He provides consulting services for all
types of flooring problems related to manufacturing, specifications, installation, performance, use and maintenance. He
is the author of "The Claims File" a column published by Floor Covering News and he publishes "The Commercial Flooring
Report" a national publication focused on the state of the commercial flooring industry.He is a key note speaker, author
and educator on his topics of expertise.
Contact: lgmtcs@optlink.us Ph: 706-370-5888 Visit Lew's Personal Page
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Donato Pompo has over 40 years of experience in the ceramic tile and natural stone industry. He is President of Ceramic
Tile and Stone Consultants (CTaSC) a consultancy comprised of accomplished ceramic tile and stone installers,
construction scientists and other industry specialist located throughout the U.S. He has experience as an installer, as a tile
distributor and importer, as a manufacturer of installation products for ceramic tile and stone, and for the last eight plus
years as a forensic investigator, expert witness, quality control consultant and trainer. Donato is the past chairman and
current member for the Ceramic Tile Institute of America (CTIOA) Technical Committee, a member of the Marble Institute
of America (MIA) and Building Stone Institute (BSI). He participates in the Tile Council of North America (TCNA)
Committee, and sits on the ASTM C18 Stone Committee as well as the ANSI A 108 and ISO TC-189 Committees. He is a
member of the National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA) Technical Committee. Donato is a Certified Microbial
Remediator (CMR), a Certified Document Technologist (CDT) through the CSI architectural organization, and a Ceramic
Tile Consultant through CTIOA. He has a biochemistry education with MBA degree.
Contact: donato@ctasc.com Ph: 866-669-1550 International: 619-669-2967 Visit Donato's Personal Page
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Christopher P. Ramey Chris Ramey is one of America's foremost authorities on marketing and selling to the affluent with
over 30 years in the floor covering industry as the platform. He is president of Affluent Insights and chairman of The
Luxury Marketing Council Florida. Affluent Insights is a business development, marketing communications, sales training
and public speaking consultancy specializing in helping companies penetrate the luxury market. Ramey’s retail
experience includes past president, International Design Guild; the world’s largest chain of decorative floor coverings with
100+ showrooms, SVP with CCA Global Partners, and owner of his own floor covering retail stores. He started his career at
Macy’s highly regarded Executive Management Training Program in their floor covering departments.
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Ruud Steenvoorden is president of Steenvoorden Consultancy located in South Africa. Ruud is past Corporate Director of
Purchasing at Fetim B.V. an international company that buys, markets and distributes wood and laminate floor covering,
and other construction materials, to retailers, professionals and DIY chains across Europe. At Fetim he was responsible
for strategic purchases as well as for managing the wood flooring business. He is past vice president of the European
Federation of Parquet Importers (EFPI), a Brussels based association of European importers of engineered and solid wood
flooring. He has over 30 years experience in the international wood and laminate flooring markets. Ruud was born in the
Netherlands. He speaks Dutch, English, German and French and is now living and working in South Africa.
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Warren Tyler is owner of Motivation Plus. He is a professional speaker with over 1,200 appearances as key noter. He is
a consultant and trainer to the retail and wholesale business world focusing on sales, service, merchandising, motivation
advertising and more. A true entrepreneur, Warren started his own flooring installation and cleaning business at age 22.
He's had a varied and innovative 27 year retail career as owner of home furnishings, kitchen and bath, antique, interior
design and flooring operations—wholesale, retail and contract. He now focuses on teaching and motivating through
speaking appearances, consulting and writing. His trade newspaper columns have appeared in every issue of Floor
Covering News since its inception. He enjoys the highest readership in the industry. His writing extends to the mainstream
press as well as newsletters, books, DVDs, CDs and special projects.
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Christine B. Whittemore is Chief Simplifier of Simple Marketing Now and a marketing expert with 16 years experience in
the floor covering, home furnishings and apparel industries. Simple Marketing Now focuses on helping companies connect
with consumers by using both traditional and non traditional methods such as social marketing to improve the customer
experience and build brands. Ms. Whittemore's focus is to make purchasing her clients' products a natural conclusion to
an informative and comfortable buying experience, while simultaneously building brand loyalty and increasing the impact
of marketing investments using both traditional and nontraditional marketing tools. She works with retailers,
manufacturers, and associations inside and outside of the industry to help them simplify their marketing approach and
incorporate social marketing strategies. She recently wrote and often updates a comprehensive survey of the state of
social media marketing in the floor covering industry, found on her Flooring the Consumer website and has recently
published her first e-book on social marketing, Social Media Collective Wisdom.
Contact: CBWhittemore@SimpleMarketingNow.com Ph: 973-283-2424 Visit Christine's Personal Page
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David Wootton is President of the Wootton Group. He is an international business professional with 17 years experience
as a hands on chief executive of major U.S. flooring manufacturing companies. Mr. Wootton's expertise lies in strategic
development, global sourcing, turnarounds and mergers and acquisitions. He guides businesses through asset
utilization, strategic realignments and divestitures, working with companies to strengthen their strategic teams and key
personnel. As CEO, Mr. Wootton led both Harris-tarkett and Columbia Flooring through ambitious expansions and
successful growth periods. From 1998 to 2007, Mr. Wootton lead Columbia through conversion of A Virginia plywood plant
to a hardwood flooring plant and multiple acquisitions of manufacturing facilities in Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, West
Virginia and offshore in Malaysia. By 2007 Columbia was the second largest hardwood flooring manufacturer in the U.S.
when it was purchased by Unilin, a division of Mohawk Industries, Inc. Prior to his tenure in the flooring industry, he held
executive positions with automotive chemical manufacturer, Dinol, and a large residential and commercial construction
company, Bovis Construction Ltd., both based in the U.K. Mr. Wootton is a resident of Atlanta, GA with offices in both
Atlanta and the UK.
Contact: david@thewoottongroup.com Ph: 404 391-9751 Visit David's Personal Page
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Carl Ruland is President and founder of Global Flooring Consulting (Bonn, Germany) a consultancy whose primary
objective is to provide companies with strategies to sell their products throughout Europe. He has been active in the U.S.
and European flooring industry holding executive positions with Akzenta Paneele & GmbH Classen Gruppe and Domo
Cushion Vinyl, which was recently sold to IVC Group. Ruland was responsible for introducing Classen to the American
market and initiating a container direct business with CCA Global Partners' GCO and Global Direct divisions. He also
established OEM programs between Mannington and other manufacturers. At Domo, Ruland was responsible for a $20
million retooling project, installing state of the art machinery to produce up to 30 million square meters of glass backed
sheet vinyl. Ruyland defines himself as a "discrete, efficient consultant whose primary concern is to develop business
strategies for companies seeking opportunities in the global market."
Contact: global.flooring@t-online.de Office: +49 (228) 617- 79694 Mobile: +49 (173) 525-6074
Visit Car's Personal Page
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