2019/09-21 - Rug TechEd (Las Vegas, NV)

Steve Bakker
Woolsafe Organization
www.WoolSafe.org

Scott & Miranda Gwilliam
RugWorx
www.rugworx.com

Scott Gwilliam; is the Owner, Operator, inspiration and heartbeat of. He has been cleaning carpet for 20+ years and re-sparked his passion for textiles and fibers with professional rug cleaning. He loves to educate other cleaners and Designers and is an IDCEC approved Instructor. He holds a wide array of certifications including Textile Pro and WoolSafe Certified Rug Care Specialist. He spends a lot of time with his wife and their two boys. He LOVES to snow ski, play poker, billiards and golf. He is very passionate, loves what he does and loves all of his clients

Miranda Gwilliam; eased into working for Scott when their boys are little and now works full-  time at the Rug Worx facility. She does EVERYTHING from scheduling, billing, customer service, management, networking, marketing to rug deliveries with Scott! She is the Mama Bear at work and at home to their 2 boys: Byron (8) & Brandt (5). She loves running their family biz, connecting with clients and taking her boys to the Zoo.

Jarrod Horton
President of Porter's Carpet Cleaning, Shreveport, LA
www.porterscc.com

Jarrod Horton; Owner of Porter’s Carpet Cleaners in Shreveport,  Louisiana.  

He became a certified Master Rug Cleaner in 2014, he is also an associate certified entomologists.  Although he is relatively new to the rug cleaning industry, he has been battling fabric moths for almost 30 years as the owner of a professional pest control company, Anti-Pest.  He will explain some of the biological aspects of the moths we encounter and some of the techniques his company employs to detect, eradicate and repel them from their customer’s fine rugs.

Randy Hyde
Renaissance Rug Cleaning Inc.
www.renaissancerugs.com

Randy Hyde; Owner of Renaissance Rug Cleaning, Inc. established 1999 in Portland, Oregon. He started in the rug business with Atiyeh Brothers in the late 1980’s. In 1996 Randy accepted a job with rug dealer, author and tribal rug expert James Opie in part to manage the wash plant but also to sell rugs. Randy purchased the cleaning end of the business in 1999 and changed the name to “Renaissance Rug Cleaning”. Today Renaissance provides cleaning and service to most of Portland’s dealers and collectors. From 2015-16 Randy served on the ARCS board of directors and as ARCS President from 2016- to April 2018.

Jordan King
Oriental Rug Cleaning of Indianapolis
www.Orientalrugcleaningindianapolis.com  

Jordan King; “Jordan is the operations manager at Oriental Rug Cleaning of Indianapolis and Sani-Bright Carpet Cleaning. Since joining the business in 2009, Jordan’s passion for service has helped fuel their rapid growth. He is a certified Master Rug Cleaner and holds the CRS designation. Jordan has always had an entrepreneurial spirit; through high school and college, he owned & operated a successful recording studio as well as a lawn care business. He has found the networking, education, and friendships formed through ARCS events & classes to be highly valuable. It continues to give him and his team the edge they need to bring a 5-Star experience to their clients.”

Robert Mann
Robert Mann Rugs, Inc.
www.mannrugs.com

Robert Mann; In February of 1978, I began a career in the rug business as an apprentice restorer working for an Iranian man named Hamid Sharifzadeh. I had traveled extensively in rug producing countries and somehow it all made sense. Working mostly for rug stores and dealers we did basic repairs. When rugs were too dirty to repair as is, we would clean them in the bath tub or out in the driveway. It was an exciting time.

Based in Boulder, the business grew slowly. In January 1982 I opened a wash plant and restoration studio in a shop front at 32nd Avenue and Lowell in North Denver. I hired two employees.

In 1984 we moved to a large warehouse on Walnut Street, and moved again in 2009 to a bigger space on Race Ct. just north of the Denver Stockyards complex. With a staff of twenty, we had become a small business.

A Denver County plan to redevelop the Stock Yards has caused us to prepare for yet another move. In mid-2018 we will move into a new Denver facility near 56th and Pecos. Our new home will be a 24,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility for rug cleaning and restoration.

Scott Ring
Woodard Cleaning and Restoration
www.woodard247.com

Scott Ring; Scott started in the cleaning and restoration business in the late 1980s with Woodard Cleaning & Restoration. After working production in the rug plant for approximately 7 years learning the business, he went on to pursue a career in hand-knotted rug sales. He worked in retail sales and importing for 13 years before returning to Woodard to now run then rug operations. Working with a 73-year-old business, he has been able to serve all three generations of ownership. Scott spent the next few years growing the rug business and adding additional decontamination, rug padding and hand-repair services.

In 2017 he became Director of Cleaning Services at Woodard, overseeing rug, residential & commercial location cleaning. With over 25 years of textile cleaning & retail sales experience, he says he has been blessed to have several mentors to help him figure things out along the way. Working at Woodard, their core purpose is to help people get back to their lives. The challenge and the privilege to serve others, both team members and customers is what motivates him daily. Scott is on his second term on the board of directors with the Association of Rug Care Specialist and has completed the Master Rug Cleaner certification.

Kash Sobhe
Rug Ideas
www.rugideas.com

Kash Sobhe; is a 3rd generation rug expert. His late grandfather started their family business in Iran in 1953, over 66 years ago. His father, Dr. Kay, is a second-generation rug expert with over 50 years of dedication to the industry. Kash and his family moved to the U.S. about 16 years ago where they decided to continue their passion for rugs in Los Angeles. As the first and only Certified Master Rug Cleaner in the entire greater Los Angeles area, Kash is also a WoolSafe Certified Fiber Care Specialist and a Certified Color Restoration Specialist. He has grown up caring for rugs and will continue the family business. He graduated in Business Marketing from California State University Northridge.

Ruth Travis
Woolsafe Organization
www.WoolSafe.org

Ruth Travis; Ruth Travis holds a BS degree in Textiles and has over 30 years of experience in maintenance, restoration and inspection of carpet, rugs and upholstery.

 In 1988, Ruth and her partner, Ginger started their fiber care service in Chattanooga, Tennessee where she performed fabric cleaning, protection, and inspection and color correction services for her clients, interior designers and carpet mills.

 In 1995 she opened a retail rug store, The Rug Exchange. After selling her share of the business to her partner in 2001, Ruth shifted her focus to training and instructing others in the fiber care industry through the IICRC. She was the  IICRC President from 2006 to 2008.

In 2008 Ruth became the Director of the WoolSafe Program in North America. In that capacity, she offers the on-line Fiber Care Specialist course and maintains the WoolSafe North America Directory of Service Providers.

Ruth is an IICRC-Approved Instructor for Rug Cleaning and Color Repair, Master Rug Cleaner and ARCS Certified Rug Specialist. She is also a Carpet Inspector specializing in cleaning related issues and color correction.  Most recently she worked as a consultant for Chase Carpet and Rug Care in Denver where she oversaw their rug cleaning operation.

Megan Walker-ARCS President
Aladdin Cleaning & Restoration
www.aladdincleans.com

Meg Walker; is Vice President of Aladdin Cleaning & Restoration in San Antonio, Texas.  Upon graduation from Texas Christian University in 2004, Meg began her career at Aladdin in accounting, marketing and HR.  In 2016 she graduated from the Master Rug Cleaner Program. Meg is the current President of the Board for the Association of Rug Care Specialists. 

Dr. Agness Zsednai MD
Woolsafe Organization
www.WoolSafe.org

Dr. Agness Zsednai MD; is a research chemist; she was educated in Hungary, and got her degree in Chemistry at the University of Szeged. She started work at the Department of Colloid and Surface Chemistry at the same University, teaching undergraduates and doing research work. She obtained her doctoral degree in colloid chemistry.

She joined The WoolSafe Organisation in 2002 and has been responsible for the testing of carpet cleaning and maintenance chemicals under the WoolSafe certification programme. She has also conducted research into the soiling and cleaning of wool carpets and the effect of the various maintenance chemicals on wool and synthetic carpets.

She has been the Managing Director of The WoolSafe Organisation since August 2010.