Future Focus Awards Presented at Surfaces

Chattanooga, TN, Feb. 2, 2012 -- Floor Focus magazine named the winners of its first annual Future Focus Awards, which were created to recognize talented young professionals in the floorcovering industry.

Future Focus features six competition categories—sales, marketing, human resources, research and development, sustainability and manufacturing—and yielded an abundance of quality entries. Floor Focus partnered with 3M’s Scotchgard in sponsoring the competition.

The 2012 Future Focus grand prize was awarded to Scott Appel, CEO of Touch of Color Flooring in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Appel was nominated in the sales category and was acknowledged for growing his company from $0 to $12 million in sales in only eight years.

Keaton McFarland, sales representative at Gulistan Carpet, was acknowledged as the honorable mention in the sales category.

In the marketing category, Shaw’s Mollie Allen Surratt, director of marketing/Anderson and marketing communication manager/Shaw, took the top prize, while international marketing manager Megha Shah of Shaw received the honorable mention.

Lisa Rodriguez Buice, corporate diversity manager at Shaw, was the winner of the human resources category, while Sandra Johnson, human resources manager for Shaw, was the honorable mention.

In the research and development category, Shaw designer Ashley Olson took the top prize, and Kate McDermott, design analyst at Armstrong, was acknowledged as the honorable mention.

Centiva’s Erin Dempsey, public relations—environment and strategy, was the winner of the sustainability award, and Bentley Prince Street’s Kimbrely Matsoukas, sustainability manager, was the honorable mention.

And in the manufacturing category, Shaw production manager Wayne Gerber was given the Future Focus award, while Shaw’s process improvement manager Roderick MacLeod received the honorable mention.

Modeled after contests conducted in the advertising world and conceptualized in collaboration with Paul Fredrickson, industry consultant, Future Focus strives to keep young talent motivated by acknowledging their achievements.

This year’s winners and honorable mentions were recognized at an honorary breakfast during the Surfaces trade show, and each received a trophy commemorating their accomplishment.

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