Jennifer Todd, owner, LMS General Contractors and founder, A Greener Tomorrow, speaks with us about the numerous challenges she has faced entering a historically male-dominated industry. Holding a number of roles, including project management and superintendent, Todd started her own business 16 years ago and has used it as an avenue for recruiting a female workforce. Out of that grew A Greener Tomorrow, a non-profit organization that provides education and career opportunities in the construction skilled trades to underserved populations with a focus on empowering women. Todd's perspective on a solution to the labor shortage is simple: address the needs of your employees so that they can be successful. 

Aztec Carpet & Rug is celebrating 40 years this year and got its start as a workroom, producing custom rugs. Jim Rodriguez, president, tells how his family got into flooring, starting with his father's desire to exit the sharecropping world by joining the U.S. Army. Following his service, he became a carpet helper and then went on to work for a large carpet chain as a flooring installer. He eventually went out on his own and Aztec Carpet & Rug was born. Rodriguez shares how the family has managed to remain successful over the course of 40 years, how they have had to pivot in the hard times and how they landed some pretty big clients. 

Dale and Don Jarmer, owners of Jarmer Flooring, discuss how their experience in the flooring industry led to the creation of their app, Floor Swap, and how they hope it can help flooring contractors save time and money.

Sponsored by: Floor Swap

Shaw Industries offers a wide range of resources to its military veteran workforce, including ShawVet, Hiring Our Heroes and Home For Our Troops. Micah Pye, talent acquisition specialist, served in the U.S. Marines and has been working for Shaw for the last seven years, recruiting both former service members and non-service members alike. He shares his military experience, how he now uses this experience to help other service members integrate into civilian life and establish a career in the flooring industry through Shaw, and how Shaw's programs work to benefit their military workforce and those in the community. 

Steve Abernathy, COO, World Floor Covering Association (WFCA), talks about how imperative it is for the industry to support flooring installation training and how the Floor Covering Education Foundation (FCEF) and the International Certified Flooring Installers (CFI) association are working to recruit, train and place the next generation of installers. He reveals that CFI is celebrating its 30th anniversary at the convention this fall where it is partnering with the Flooring Contractors Association (FCICA) and hints at what attendees can expect. 

Bona's Resilient Flooring Renewal System has been utilized in a multitude of projects and is popular in a wide range of sectors, including education and healthcare. Dave Darche, national market manager of adhesives/A&D, Bona, explains how this system benefits everyone from the A&D community to flooring installers to general contractors. Listen as he provides insight on its many attributes. 

The International Union of Painters of Allied Trades (IUPAT) is launching a new commercial carpet certification in June. Robert Varden, flooring industry veteran, and Val Chestohin, lead floor covering instruct DC 16, IUPAT, have been working to develop this program with the input of various mills. It will only be available to IUPAT members and those at a level of apprentice or journeyman. Listen as Varden and Chestohin talk more in depth about the program and an upcoming resilient certification that is in the works.