Note from the Editor: This year the NWFA technical schools have a new format with classes across the country and will be taught by a team of NWFA Regional Instructors. HF will be profiling each of the instructors in the new year.
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Note from the Editor: This year the NWFA technical schools have a new format with classes across the country and will be taught by a team of NWFA Regional Instructors. HF will be profiling each of the instructors in the new year.
A Minnesota native, National Wood Flooring Association Regional Instructor Roy Reichow didn't grow up in the business, but he's been doing wood floors since before he graduated from high school. "I was a learning misfit," he recalls. "Our wood shop teacher did a lot of floors during the summer for a flooring contractor. He would select one kid out of the wood shop class and that's where I got my start. I stayed on with the contractor, and my mentor would give me a half-hour lecture on the way to work and a half hour on the way home. I didn't realize at the time what mentorship meant." Their relationship continued and "through all his aches and pains he continued to mentor. I realized then he was paying it forward."
Not long after, in 1974, Reichow started his own company, Reichow Parquet Flooring Inc., which he has operated in the Twin Cities area ever since. In 2002 he also started his inspection business, National Wood Floor Consultants Inc. He has taught many educational seminars to local distributors and retailers; has been a speaker at the NWFA Expo and NWFA Certified Professionals Symposium; holds many NWFA degrees; has served on many committees; is NWFACP-certified in Installation, Sanding & Finishing, Inspection and Commercial Inspection; and sits on the NWFACP Board of Directors. He has also authored numerous articles for HF and writes for the HF Inspector Blog.
Reichow will teach the NWFA schools this year Jan. 13-17 and Oct. 15-17 at Floors Northwest in Minneapolis, and Reichow is excited to be able to teach NWFA training. "It was a blessing I was asked to participate in this program so I can pay it forward, too," he says.
To read more about the revamped NWFA technical schools and see the schedule for this year, click here. To register, click here.
The NWFA Regional Instructors for 2014 are:
(back row, L-R): Jay Daniel Moore, Daniel Boone, Scott Taylor, Jason Elquest, Roy Reichow and NWFA Director of Certification and Education Brett Miller; (front row, L-R): Jon Namba, Mike Dittmer, Kjell Nymark and Joe Rocco.
