Floor Coverings

Industry Comes Together to Support FCIF; Honor WFCA Hall of Fame Inductees

By Matthew Spieler

FCIF Event — WFCA’s Freida Staten, left, and Jenny Ostad, right, with Shirley Thompson, wife of Dean, the president of the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI).

Keith and Shirley Campbell are set for the Mannington chairman to be inducted into the WFCA Industry Hall of Fame. With the induction, Campbell joined his father Johnny, who was inducted to the Hall in 1997, to become the first father-son team to receive the honor.

Christopher Davis' Family — The late D. Christopher Davis who headed the WFCA from its formation until his untimely passing in 2012 was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame and his two daughters were in attendance to accept the award in his honor. At the WFCA table are, standing, from left, WFCA’s Tom Jennings, Paul Johnson, Freida Staten, Jeffrey King and Scott Humphrey. Seated, from left, Michelle Jennings; Rhonda Johnson; Davis’ daughters Amber Padilla and Jessica Gates, and WFCA’s Jenny Ostad.

FCIF Guests — From left, CCA Global Partners’ Eric and Lynn Demaree with Carla and Scott Wening of ProSource of Oxnard, and a member of CCA.

FCIF Members — Larry Nagle, left, a founding member of the FCIF, past chairman and Hall of Fame inductee, co-emceed the event with current FCIF chairman and fellow Hall of Famer Howard Brodsky.

This lovely table shows the diversity of industry related people who attended the FCIF Gala. Standing, from left, John Mann of Eastman Chemical, Russell Grizzle of Mannington, Dean Thompson of the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI), Jay Ghingher of Saul Ewing and Tony Cololillo of Eastman. Seated are their respective wives, Cheryl, Janice, Shirley, Pat and Kim.

The historic Starlight Ballroom at New York’s Waldorf Astoria was the setting for the 2015 FCIF Gala. The organization last held a similar fundraising event in 2007, also in New York but at Cipriani.

Flooring professionals from all levels of the industry came together at the Waldorf Astoria in New York for a black tie event to help raise funds and awareness for the Floor Covering Industry Foundation (FCIF).

Held in the historic Starlight Ballroom at the landmark Waldorf, officials said the event raised over six figures to help FCIF in its mission. Founded in the early 1980s by a group of concerned industry icons, including the late Walter Guinan, president of Karastan, FCIF has helped countless individuals regain some stability in their times of greatest need. Through financial assistance, FCIF aims to bring hope to those affiliated with the flooring industry who experience life-altering hardships.

Since its founding, FCIF has distributed more than $3 million in grants with compassion, confidentiality and dignity to individuals who have worked at any level of the industry—from mill executives and employees to retail salespeople to installers.

“The evening was truly a night that embodied the caring spirit, commitment and innovation that make our industry one of a kind,” noted Howard Brodsky, FCIF’s chairman. “It was a great celebration of our success as an industry. But, most importantly, we helped support the great work of the FCIF.”

With 270 people from around the country in attendance, the event also honored the latest inductees into the World Floor Covering Association (WFCA) Industry Hall of Fame: Keith Campbell, chairman of Mannington Mills, and the late D. Christopher Davis, the former president and CEO of the WFCA.

Scott Humphrey, FCIF’s president and president and CEO of the WFCA, added, “The FCIF Gala was an amazing evening allowing the industry to come together around an organization whose sole purpose is to help others. Add to that the honoring of two great leaders, Chris Davis and Keith Campbell, whose impacts and legacies will far outlive them, and you have the making of a evening that will not soon be forgotten.”

Campbell not only joined his father Johnny in the Hall as the first father-son team, he also joined another Mannington head, the late Arthur Williams, who was part of the inaugural class of inductees in 1992.

Under Campbell’s leadership, which includes steering the company through the Great Recession, Mannington has still experienced its greatest era of corporate growth.

In accepting the honor, Campbell not only paid tribute to his predecessors, but to all Mannington employees, saying “I wouldn’t be standing here without their hard work and dedication to making this the best company there is. It is to their credit that Mannington is celebrating its 100^th year as a U.S. flooring manufacturer.”

Davis was inducted posthumously following his unexpected passing in early 2012. He started in the industry in 1994 and helped see the merger of the then Western Floor Covering Association with the American Floorcovering Association to form what is the World Floor Covering Association. Davis is also credited with building Surfaces into one of the country’s Top 50 trade shows and then negotiating its sale for $40 million plus a 20-year sponsorship deal that allowed WFCA to pursue its mission of educating, promoting and lobbying on behalf of the flooring industry—specifically the specialty retailer, but also installers, inspectors, distributors and manufacturers.

Davis’ two daughters Amber Padilla and Jessica Gates accepted the award saying their dad would be humbled by the honor.

Humphrey said the two donated Davis’ Hall of Fame trophy to the WFCA for it to be displayed at the association’s facility in Anaheim, Calif., which was built under their father’s watch as a place to promote flooring as well as train people in the industry to be more professional.

To learn more about the FCIF, visit fcif.org. For more about the WFCA and the Industry Hall of Fame, visit wfca-pro.org.