Trainers

Scott McFadzen has a background of more than 28 years of progressive experience in restoration and specialist remediation services, with 9 years of experience as an approved IICRC Instructor. Scott is an IICRC-approved ASD instructor and WRT instructor, providing instruction to students who wish to acquire their Applied Structural Drying Technician (ASD) and Water Damage Restoration Technician (WRT) certification to fulfil their IICRC Masters status track.

Scott is also an IICRC-approved TSCT instructor, providing specific information for the proper maintenance and cleaning of trauma scenes, crime scenes, and other possible infectious and hazardous areas for students wanting to acquire their Trauma and Crime Scene Technician (TSCT) certification.

Scott is an RIA Water Loss Specialist (WLS), which is one of the highest designations in the restoration industry. Scott is a Registered Third-Party Evaluator with International Dry Standard Organization.

Scott sits on the IICRC S500 Standard Consensus Body, the IICRC S700 Standard Consensus Body and the IICRC S540 Standard Consensus Body as a voting member. He is also an IICRC International Committee member, a member of the BMI CPD, and a non-voting member of the IICRC S550 community.

Scott is an ISSA Oceania Advisory Council member, assisting with technical matters worldwide for cleaning and restoration.

In 2018, Scott developed Coach8 and was approved by the IICRC to teach classes for IICRC certification following strict IICRC policies and standards. Coach8 delivers in-person classes, online classes and private training.

Scott provides a unique approach to the development of restoration procedures for companies from his wealth of training and experience in the field. Scott regularly consults with other restoration companies, loss adjusters, claims staff and insurance companies on claims handling.

In all aspects of Scott’s work, he focuses on ensuring that the correct policies, programs and standards are used and new exciting ideas are implemented when practical. He specialises in providing practical advice for governmental authorities, insurance adjusters, associations and training organizations and building relationships across different sectors of the industry.

Rachel Adams has been involved in the water damage and environmental health industries for more than 23 years. She holds a dual bachelor degree in Environmental Health Sciences and Medical Technology (Toxicology) from Purdue University. She is certified by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. She also holds a Master Restorer designation from the IICRC through her training, dedication and field experience.

Rachel was founder and President of Indoor Environmental Management, Inc (IEM) in 1994 in which she conducts inspections of both residential and commercial buildings throughout the country. IEM grew to develop one of the leading consulting and state-of-the art laboratory serving the needs of clients throughout the country.

Rachel served on the Board of Directors for the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, Restoration Certification (IICRC) and was appointed to serve as the Technical Advisory Committee Chair for the development of the IICRC Applied Microbial Remediation Technician (AMRT). Rachel serves on the committee to write and establish guidelines and updates for the standard of care for mold remediation, also referred to as the S520, Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Mold Remediation. Courses that she currently provides for IICRC certification include, AMRT (Applied Microbial Remediation Technician (AMRT), Water Damage Technician (WRT), Applied Structural Drying (ASD), Health and Safety Technician (HST), OSHA 10 and 30 hour compliance courses, Lead RRP Licensing Training, Building Investigation and Environmental Microbiology Sampling.

She serves as an Honorary Board of Director for the Society of Cleaning and Restoration Technicians (SCRT) and is an Associate member of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA).

Rachel serves as an expert witness for litigations involving both defendants and plaintiffs. Her ability to provide data interpretation and evaluate protocols has made her a preferred specialist in her field. As an OSHA outreach trainer, she provides health and safety audits, training and regulatory compliance.

Rachel has published several articles in professional trade journals and participated in numerous research projects funded by both public and private institutions to improve structural drying techniques and promote healthier indoor environments.

Michael Gordon has worked in the field of cleaning and restoration since 2001. Hailing from a training background, Michael and his wife run a restoration company in the Wide Bay region. Over the past 17 years he has had the opportunity to work on hundreds of fire and water damage jobs. His work ranges from residential to commercial buildings including losses after cyclone events.

Michael is a Certified IICRC Master Textile Cleaner, Master Fire and Smoke Restorer. As an approved IICRC instructor he teaches for Coach8 in Australia. Michael is active in the field of restoration and is passionate about giving back to the industry and contributing to a more professional and open environment where all restoration technicians are able to work towards a common goal and move the industry forward.

Ken Larsen, CR, WLS, FLS, CLS, ERS, CMP, CSDS has been in the restoration industry since 1978. He holds RIA, ACAC and IICRC advanced designations. Recipient of the 32nd RIA Martin L. King Award for his many contributions and sincere dedication to the Restoration Industry, his career includes 18 years as an independent property restoration contractor, consultant to restorative drying during catastrophes and large loss drying coordination, expert witness, Director of Education for North America’s largest disaster restoration contracting organization, and now the author of one of the industry’s leading technical resource book on the subject of structural restorative drying – Leadership in Restorative Drying.

Ken is currently an IICRC Approved instructor of WRT, ASD and CDS certificate courses. He is also an RIA instructor of the restoration industry’s advanced certification credentials: Water Loss Specialist (WLS), Fire Loss Specialist (FLS), Contents Loss Specialist (CLS), Environmental Risk Specialist (ERS), Certified Mould Professional (CMP) and Certified Restorer (CR). He serves as Chairman for RIA approved Instructors, Trainers and Subject Matter Experts, a sub-committee of RIA’s Education Committee.

Ken presently serves as Senior Technical Director for the International Dry Standard Organization (IDSO) and Director of Education for the Restoration Leadership Institute (RLI) and lead consultant for the Restoration Expert Panel (REP) and DryStandard Inspections (DSi). He is also a Registered Third Party Evaluator® (RTPE).

IICRC instructor Melody David is a second-generation carpet-dyer with experience in all facets of carpet dyeing, manufacturing and colour repair. Now President of Americolor Corp (americolordyes.com), America’s largest and oldest producer of carpet dye, she teaches internationally and is appreciated for her no-nonsense approach. Melody’s hands-on training program offers students real-world examples in an easy-to-understand format.

Ann Bedwell is a 22-year veteran of the carpet and textile cleaning industry. Starting in 1998 with commercial cleaning, she expanded to work in other fields, including flooring installation, commercial furniture purchasing, chemical manufacturing, and finally, emergency services and restoration. She currently works with a restoration company and provides support on water, fire, contents, and biohazard remediation. Ann is an IICRC-approved instructor for the Carpet Cleaning Technician (CCT) course, and she teaches certifications for the State of California to the insurance industry. She is a member of the ANSI/IICRC S540 Standards Committee, and she teaches at Delmac Cleaning and Restoration Academy in Bakersfield, California.

Joe Dobbins is the current IICRC Chair-Elect / First Vice-President. He has a long tenure with the IICRC, having been in educational training since the mid-1980s in hands-on training seminars for the cleaning and restoration industry, and later in the early 1990s as an approved instructor of IICRC courses in 7 different subject fields in cleaning and restoration divisions. His love of teaching started in high school and as a Music Education and trumpet major at Jacksonville State University (Alabama) in the early 1970s. He is married to Janet and has two children, Alyson and David.

In the late 1990s, Joe became Certification Council Vice-Chair (now Education and Examinations Committee) and became the Chair in 2002-2008 as an IICRC Executive Committee Officer. He has been Chairman over 8 different IICRC courses (Technical Advisory Committee Chairman) and for 2 different Divisions. In addition, he has served as an Officer, as IICRC Treasurer, Education and Examinations Chair, and as Vice-Chair. His term as Executive Committee or IICRC Board member has been at 4 different term tenures.

Joe owned a cleaning, restoration, and inspection business for 25 years from 1982 to 2007, with the company performing work in cleaning (upholstery, carpets, rugs), water and fire damage restoration, packouts, and full-service reconstruction. As well, he owned a three-location distributorship for the cleaning and restoration industry. Upon retirement, Joe served as a property claims adjuster from 2007 to 2008 with a major insurance company fulfilling a complete circle to help better train a multi-faceted educational experiences to students. He still teaches today about 46 weeks each year in IICRC certification courses while serving in other capacities of leadership.

Mark Violand started his floorcovering career in the cleaning and restoration industry more than 45 years ago. As he matured in the industry he added floorcovering inspections to the services he offered. His reputation now precedes him as Northeast Ohio’s “go-to” floorcovering inspector, working for carpet, resilient, wood and laminate manufacturers and floorcovering retailers and distributors, along with consulting with carpet installation contractors. He still performs carpet repairs on a regular basis, which allows his students to trust that he knows what he is talking about while he is teaching the Carpet Repair and Reinstallation Technician course.

For 8 years Mark started and was the manager of the maintenance department for one of Northeast Ohio’s largest commercial flooring contractors. In late 2015 Mark returned full time in the inspection, correction and training industry. His past experience makes him uniquely qualified to also teach the Carpet Cleaning Technician and Commercial Carpet Cleaning and Maintenance Technician courses.

Industry involvement goes back many years for Mark as being President of the United Carpet Cleaners Institute (UCCI), which merged with the Society of Cleaning and Restoration Technicians (SCRT), of which he is an active member in the Northeast Ohio Chapter. Mark is past chairman of The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC), Senior Carpet Inspector (SCI) Committee, which he held for 8 years. Mark was involved in the revision of the S100 Standard Reference Guide for Professional Carpet Cleaning, “Pre-cleaning and Post-cleaning Inspections” section. Mark is Chairman of the ANSI/IICRC S800 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Inspection of Textile Floorcoverings. Mark is the past chairman of the Carpet Repair and Reinstallation Technician committee.

Mark enjoys spending time with his family of three daughters, three granddaughters and three grandsons. He volunteers and participates in many activities with his local church such as lay youth minister for more than 39 years, and he regularly volunteers with several local community service organizations.

Brad Kovar is a published author, researcher, technical consultant and high demand speaker on indoor environmental issues. He is the founder, President and CEO of Safeguard EnviroGroup a leading indoor environmental consulting firm with corporate headquarters in Southern California. Brad holds board-awarded accredited designations and frequently consults with municipal, state and federal agencies, insurance carriers on major loss claims and is a court certified expert providing testimony and pre-trial forensic case development in the fields of microbial contamination and smoke damage.

Brad has authored technical case studies and authoritative guidelines which have been peer-reviewed and published in international scientific journals. His work has been cited worldwide in government documents and university research. His peer-reviewed published guidelines are used in training manuals in advanced fire and smoke damage certification courses from the industry’s oldest and largest trade associations and certification bodies. In addition, Brad was a primary author of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) Technical Guide to Wildfire Impact Investigations for the OEHS Professional and was a founding member of the AIHA Wildfire Project Team.