Speaker Bios

Sean Benetin, Millwork & More LLC

Sean Benetin is the founder and President of Millwork & More, LLC, a custom cabinet and millwork company serving one of the wealthiest residential and historic restoration markets in the NJ/NY metro area. He has dedicated his life to woodworking, starting his career path at the age of 14 in 1984. In 1996 he founded his company which is currently operating out of a 6,500-square-foot facility in New Jersey since purchasing it in 2001. Over the last 6 years he has completely stopped working in the shop and has focused all his experience and energy on refining his business operation to run without him. Sean is also currently Vice President of the Cabinet Makers Association and enjoys sharing knowledge and networking with colleagues in the CMA.

Ron Bryze, E. Kinast Distributors

Ron Bryze has a 35+ year background in the furniture and cabinetry business. His work has had national exposure with commissions ranging from buildings listed in The National Register of Historic Places, including a number of residences designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, to state-of-the-art recording and broadcast studios across the United States. He often found himself developing finishing schedules replicating the 19th century one day and the 21st century the next.

To complement his practical background, he holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University and is the author of The College of Wood Finishing Knowledge. Ron has developed numerous training videos and software applications for the wood finishing industry. He also teaches classes on a variety of wood finishing subjects.

Bob Buckley, True32 Custom Cabinetry

Bob Buckley is the owner of True32 Custom Cabinetry based in LaVergne, Tennessee, which was founded in 1990. With 7 years of experience in distribution, and 18 years in manufacturing, Bob has seen outsourcing from both perspectives. Bob is also the author of True32 Flow Manufacturing, a book specific to cabinet manufacturing utilizing the 32mm System and Flow Manufacturing techniques.

Michael Cassell, Holz-Her U.S.

Michael Cassell is CNC Product Manager for Holz-Her U.S. He is responsible for sales and support of both CNC point to point machining centers and Matrix table machines in North America. He brings extensive CNC experience to the Holz-Her team from 11 years with Okuma America, an n international builder of CNC machines for the metal working industry. During his time at Okuma, Michael held positions of Director of Technical Resources, Director of Marketing and Director of North American Sales. Prior to joining Okuma, Michael held sales engineering positions within the cutting tool and work holding markets, both of which have been of great value in the engineering of woodworking applications.

"CNC technology is well accepted and utilized in the metalworking industry," Cassell says. "To now have the opportunity to introduce and implement this proven technology to an emerging market is both exciting and rewarding"

Michael resides in Charlotte, NC, with his wife Susan.

Bob DeStefano, SVM E-Business Solutions

Keynote speaker Bob DeStefano is president of SVM E-Business Solutions, a leading provider of strategic online marketing solutions focused on delivering measurable business results for manufacturers and distributors. For more than 10 years, Bob has helped business leaders define and implement successful online marketing strategies. In the early 1990’s during the birth of the commercial Web, Bob served as a strategic planner for Dean Witter, Discover & Co. specializing in Internet and e-commerce strategy. At Dean Witter, Bob provided strategic direction and internal project management related to the development and launch of the company’s first Website.

After founding SVM in 1995, Bob and the SVM team have worked with a wide variety of companies, including AWMV Industrial Products, Basic Fun, Bombardier Aerospace, Carter Products, Degussa, Fujipoly, James L Taylor Manufacturing, Konica Minolta, Sharp and Total Lubricants, to create and implement successful e-business and online marketing solutions.

Tom Dossenbach is the CEO of Dossenbach Associates

Tom Dossenbach is the CEO of Dossenbach Associates – an International Operations Management and Productivity consulting firm serving the Furniture, Cabinet, Millwork, and other Woodworking Industries.

Areas of focus for the firms include continuous improvement for growth and increased profitability; globalization strategies; company re-engineering through the implementation of lean manufacturing concepts; quality management; and supply chain management. He has served as interim CEO in a successful turnaround assignment of a company in bankruptcy, and Dossenbach Associates has conducted due diligence investigations for acquisition-minded clients. The firm has conducted assignments for the wood products sectors of foreign countries as well as states and provinces within the US and Canada and for over 300 individual companies on six continents – encompassing market research, operations evaluations, and implementing change initiatives that resulted in successful growth through offensive and defensive globalization strategies.

Tom is a contributing editor of Wood & Wood Products magazine with a monthly circulation of over 42,000 and has written articles in his monthly column “Management Matters” on such subjects as Continuous Improvement; Globalization Strategies; Supply Chain Management; Quality Management; Lean Manufacturing; and Employee Recruitment and Retention. His series entitled The Titanic Syndrome was acclaimed by readers as a long over due wake up call for the Furniture Industry.

Tom has been actively involved in The Association for Manufacturing Excellence, The Turnaround Management Association, and the American Furniture Manufacturers Association (now AHFA) where he was president of the Manufacturing Division.

Prior to forming his consulting firm in 1996, Tom spent more than 30 years in the office and home furniture and millwork industries after graduating from the N.C. State University School of Industrial Engineering in the Furniture Manufacturing and Management Program. Most of his time in industry was spent as a Plant Manager, Vice President, or General Manager with profit and loss responsibilities in office, hospitality, and residential furniture as well as in the millwork industry. Among his accomplishments was the improved performance of his division of a Fortune 500 Office Furniture Manufacturing Company to lead in Return on Assets and Inventory Turns through the implementation of JIT principals, new product development, and an aggressive Continuous Improvement Program.

Tom is well known and respected in the wood products industry as an innovative thinker who knows – from experience as a manager and as a consultant to the industry – what it takes to have a strong profitable company equipped to meet tomorrow’s challenges. It is his belief that the small as well as the large can thrive during these changing times of rapid globalization by strategically exploiting their strengths and planning for the future with vision and innovation.

Pat Gilbert, Tustin Woodworks

Pat Gilbert has been in the cabinet making industry since 1974. After working for several different companies, he started and has owned Tustin Woodworks for the past 25 years. His company is located in southern California and specializes in custom commercial work. In addition to running his own business, Pat is a Board member of the Cabinet Makers Association and is currently serves as treasurer.

Dave Grulke, Big Dave's Service

Dave Grulke's career highlights include over 20 years of advertising sales and sales management in print, direct mail and broadcast media.  During that time, he rehabbed dozens of residential properties and opened his residential general contracting business in 2002.   Having learned site built cabinetry and finish carpentry installations as college summer jobs over 30 years ago, he developed his business to specialize in turn key custom kitchens, baths and home offices.  He currently serves on the CMA board of directors.

Joe Knobbe, Exclusive Woodworking

Joe Knobbe is Senior Project Manager of Exclusive Woodworking, a Chicago-area manufacturer of high-end cabinetry and millwork. Joe has been Senior Project Manager for the $5 million-plus company for more than 15 years. He has been instrumental in helping the company grow over the years and broaden its reach by finding and nurturing relationships in the design community. He has many years of experience in finding the people who best fit the business model Exclusive Woodworking promotes and has developed a knack for keeping and growing those relationships.

Eric Lehmann, Innovative Wholesaler Fabrications LLC

A family man, a businessman, a cabinetmaker and a general contractor are just a few of the many hats that Eric C. Lehmann wears from day to day. Eric has been in the cabinet business since 1975, beginning at the youthful age of 15. In 1985, he opened his own cabinet business in a three-car garage and has never looked back. Today his custom cabinet company operates out of a computerized facility. Eric's involvement with the Cabinet Makers Association is that of an educator. He presents power, motivational seminars that regularly draw exceptionally high evaluation scores. His goal is to force attendees to his programs to reevaluate their business practices from the office to the shop.

Shawn Maberry, Roger Shaw & Associates

Shawn began his career in woodworking in 1990 as an engineer for a nearly $400 million RTA furniture company.  After gaining understanding of automated manufacturing, he became a machinery sales representative in the Midwest.  In 2001, he joined Roger Shaw & Associates as a Regional Sales Manager focusing on software applications and sales.  In 2003, Shawn became President & CEO of the company which is now the largest independent software sales, marketing, and finance company to the woodworking industry.  Roger Shaw & Associates Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Microvellum software and other leading edge technologies.  Shawn has a wife of 17 years, Leslie; two children, Lauren (15) and Landon (11).

Roger Rutan, Timber Products Co.

Roger Rutan is the Vice President, Marketing & Business Development for Timber Products Company. He has been with the firm for 12 years. In this capacity he is responsible for the company’s overall marketing strategy and for marketing each of the company’s product lines. He oversees the company’s many environmental initiatives ranging from their forestlands, to their mills, to customer education.

Mr. Rutan is an active member of a number of wood products industry associations which include, in part, the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association, American Forest and Paper Association, and the Hardwood Plywood and Veneer Association. He is a frequent speaker on green building and wood certification programs. He serves on the LEED Wood Sub-TAG which is charged with advising the program’s leadership on wood related issues. In the past he has served as the Chairman of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Marketing Committee.

Mr. Rutan holds an MBA from the University of Oregon.

Art Stratemeyer, Fine Woodworkers

Art Stratemeyer has spent 30 years of his career in marketing. During that time, he honed his furniture-making skills by studying under master makers such as Jere Osgood, Taig Frid, and other. In 2002, he turned to woodworking full time with a two-man shop—Fine Woodworkers in Raleigh, NC—where he specializes in custom furniture, cabinetry and wine cellars.

Rick Thaler, OGB Architectural Millwork Inc.

Born 1954 Rochester New York

High school graduate, 3 years college no degree

Work experience:

• 3 years framing houses and masonry work
• 5 years one man residential cabinet and furniture business
• 1 year bench employee OG Bradbury Architectural Millwork
• 3 years shop foreman/estimator Mountain Woodworks (residential shop transitioning to commercial)
• 3 years estimator/project manager/shop manager Architectural Woodworking (commercial shop)
• 10 years estimator/project manager/general manager OG Bradbury Architectural Millwork (commercial shop)
• 7 years owner OGB Architectural Millwork

Rick purchased OGB architectural Millwork from his employer after working there for 10 years. He has grown the business from $3 million in sales with 38 employees and 20,000 square feet to $10 million in sales with 100 employees and 35,000 square feet. Along the way Rick has invested in state-of-the-art computerized machinery, manufacturing and office software, training and people. The company markets its products throughout New Mexico and in Southern Colorado, eastern Arizona and west Texas. It fabricates, finishes and installs cabinets, countertops, solid surface, moldings, paneling and custom work in banks, restaurants, hospitals and other commercial spaces.

While the business absorbs a lot of his time, Rick does find a moment or two to pursue hiking, climbing, skiing, traveling and reading.

Tim Woolery, Vice President and Manager of Product Development, Gemini Coatings

Tim is Vice President and Manager of Product Development for Gemini Coatings, where he as worked for the pas 24 years. Gemini Coatings is a manufacturer of Wood Coatings primarily designed for interior wood finishes, kitchen cabinets, furniture and millwork. Tim has served many roles with Gemini including, Industrial coating sales for 11 years, Technical Director for 5 years, Vice President of Direct Sales for 6 years and now is his current roles.