2024 Emerging Leaders: Many of this year’s winners, while young, have decades of experience in the flooring industry – Feb 2024

This year’s winners of the Emerging Leaders Awards prove that there’s no shortage of talented young professionals rising up the ranks. This year’s judges-marketing consultant Paul Friederichsen and consultant Jeanne Matson with the National Cooperative Business Association-were hard pressed to select only ten winners from the 2024 crop of nominations.

Four of this year’s winners-Steve Skutelsky, Noah Boek, Daniel Arita and Dustin DeGreef-started working in the industry as teenagers, and Cecil Ward, who grew up surrounded by flooring-his mother, Kaddy Hamilton, owns and operates W.C. Carpenter in Virginia Beach, Virginia-returned to the family business in his mid-twenties.

Jeffrey Patenaude and Adam Zuur moved from general contracting into the flooring industry. William Huckaby started out in ceilings and shifted to floors. Drew Barber started his career with a 13-year stint at Mohawk Industries before shifting to the retail side. And Kristin Rae Giebler started in a distant industry-she opened an insurance brokerage-before discovering the flooring industry, falling in love with it and starting her own business out of her garage.

DANIEL ARITA, 38
American Floor & Home, President
• Earned a bachelor’s in business administration from Point Loma Nazarene University
• Began his flooring career at age 12, rolling carpet remnants, and now manages an operation with 130 employees and a 40,000-square-foot warehouse
• Launched a distribution sales department in 2011 that is now a $3 million business unit, and a construction and remodeling division in 2019 that is already a $5 million business
• Currently serves on the Aloha United Way board of directors

DREW BARBER, 39
Spokane Carpet One Floor & Home, Co-Owner
• Earned a bachelor’s in marketing from Grand Canyon University
• Member of CCA Global Board, Carpet One Advisory Council, NEX40 Council, Carpet One Regional Network Coordinator and DalTile Statements Advisory Council
• Co-owns and operates four Carpet One stores, one Floor Trader, one Lighting One and a counter fabrication business
• Community service work includes helping support and operate a school in Haiti

NOAH BOEK, 25
Christian Brothers Flooring & Interiors, Project Manager
• Earned a bachelor’s in public administration from San Diego State University
• Started out at age 16 staging materials and cleaning up jobsites, along with lead generation, and now manages several project types, including hospitals, hotels, military, multifamily and others
• Was project manager for the City of Hope Orange County Cancer Center that won a Fuse Spark Award for Most Aggressive Timeline
• Travels internationally on mission trips to build houses and distribute food

DUSTIN DEGREEF, 35
H.J. Martin and Son, Project Manager
• Started as a residential installer at 15, and after attending the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, returned to work as a commercial installer in the national installation division, then took his skills to the residential division
• Transitioned to commercial estimator before assuming his current role of project manager
• Manages projects ranging from $15,000 to $1 million each, totaling more than $20 million
• Work-life balance involves neighborhood clean-up efforts, hiking, camping and mountain biking

KRISTIN RAE GIEBLER, 39
MAC Flooring, CEO
• Graduated from UC Irvine with a bachelor’s in history
• In her mid-twenties, opened her own insurance brokerage firm, then co-founded a flooring company, and ran both businesses before shifting solely to flooring in 2011
• Also in 2011, went back to school, earning an interior design certificate from the Interior Design Institute in Newport Beach
• Has for several years led the firm as a single mother and sole business owner

WILLIAM HUCKABY, 39
Bonitz, Regional Sales Director
• Received a bachelor’s in construction management from Appalachian State University
• Started out at Bonitz in Charlotte, North Carolina 15 years ago in its acoustical ceiling business, including roles as installer and estimator before his promotion to manager of the division
• In 2019, shifted gears, relocated to Winston-Salem and took charge of an existing commercial flooring business and boosted sales to over $21 million, and now has responsibility for multiple locations in the region

JEFFREY PATENAUDE, 36
M. Frank Higgins, Senior Estimator
• Received a bachelor’s in construction management from Central Connecticut State University
• Following a stint with a general contractor as a project engineer, joined M. Frank Higgins as an estimator in 2014
• Took the initiative to analyze labor rates, increasing profitability, has also improved efficiencies in estimating and is now shifting to Measure Square software
• His community service includes putting his woodworking skills to use volunteering for Habitat for Humanity

STEVEN SKUTELSKY, 36
PID Floors, Managing Partner
• Earned bachelor’s degrees from College of Staten Island and City University of New York in business management and business administration, respectively
• Joined his family’s retail hardwood flooring business, PID Floors, 20 years ago, while still a teenager
• In November 2023, opened its 7,000-square-foot flagship showroom in Manhattan
• Certified as a LEED Green Associate and NWFA Certified Wood Floor Inspector, has played an active role in sustainability initiatives and promoting the hardwood industry

CECIL WARD, 31
W.C. Carpenter, Vice President of Sales
• Earned a bachelor’s in managerial finance at the University of Mississippi and spent three years in sales before moving back to Virginia Beach and his family’s business in 2017; since then, has sold nearly $14 million in product
• Helped expand the company by diversifying beyond flooring, boosting company revenues
• Member of the Virginia Beach Chamber of Commerce, Cape Henry Collegiate’s Alumni Board and Starnet’s Next Generation, and is actively involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation

ADAM ZUUR, 38
Hoem & Associates, Principal
• Earned a bachelor’s in construction management from Chico State University
• After 15 years on the general contractor side as a project executive, transitioned to lead one of the Bay Area’s most prominent flooring dealers, where he now runs the sales and estimating departments, as well as corporate strategy
• Successfully oversaw buildouts of many of San Francisco’s biggest buildings
• Integral part of former employer’s rapid growth as project executive

Copyright 2024 Floor Focus

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