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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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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: Ph: 561-988-0853 shirschhorn@InformationGiant.com
Read Stuart's overview of Catalina's July 2009 Floor Covering Industry Report
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 lgmandassociates.com PH: 706-370-5888
Visit Lew's Personal Page
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Christopher P. Ramey is president of Affluent Insights and chairman of The Luxury Marketing Council Florida. Affluent Insights is
a business development consultancy specializing in helping businesses market to the affluent and upper-middle class markets.
The Luxury Marketing Council is a global Think Tank for purveyors of luxury products and services. Ramey is former president of
International Design Guild, an alliance of 100 fine retail flooring showrooms and former president of Savvi Formalwear, a 300 store
chain of men’s formal wear and apparel. Ramey is a highly sought-after speaker and advisor; consulting with many of the world’s
finest brands on a daily basis. He is a member of Retail Wire’s “Brain Trust” and sits on the Advisory Panel for Retail Customer
Experience magazine. He writes a column for the Hearst business publication; Floor Covering Weekly and is a consultant for the
Floor Covering Institute. Ramey is a very active consultant to hedge funds and private equity firms investing in the floor covering
industry. He also sits on the New York City based Luxury Marketing Council Executive Committee. This fall Ramey’s weekly
television segment “Beyond the Beach with Chris Ramey” will begin airing on Plum TV.
Contact: cpr@affluentinsights.com Ph: 561-876-8077
See what Chris is up to on Twitter http://twitter.com/CPRamey
Visit Chris' Personal Page
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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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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: Ph: 973-283-2424 CBWhittemore@SimpleMarketingNow.com.
Also visit: SimpleMarketingNow.com
Visit Christine's Personal Page
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David Wootton 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: Ph: 404-233-3093 Mobile: 404 391-9751 david@thewoottongroup.com
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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