CFA 2018 PERSON OF THE YEAR 

Roger retired from Shaw Industries last year after an illustrious 40-year career in the floorcovering industry. He officially began his career in floorcovering by becoming a retail salesperson at Color Tile. A promotion soon came afterwards and Roger moved to the Chicago area and became the store manager at the Brookfield. In 1979 Roger moved back to the Quad Cities to work at Plumb’s Floorcovering in Bettendorf, IA. Soon after becoming the carpet buyer and running the four installation crews. 

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Roger’s wholesale career began at the end of 1982 as he was hired as the territory manager for Philadelphia Carpet for Iowa and southern Minnesota. In 1986 he also served as the President of the Iowa Floorcovering Association! In 1987 Roger was promoted to District Manager status with Philadelphia and moved to Rochester Hills, a suburb of Detroit. A highlight of this position was trailblazing in southwest Ontario, where he opened 30 new accounts.  Then, in 1989 Roger was named District Manager at the Philadelphia warehouse in Bensenville, so he moved his family to Wheaton. His area of responsibility was Chicagoland, NW Indiana, NW Illinois and Eastern Iowa. In the next several years, Roger ran several warehouse sales and markets, including some famous, or infamous Hamilton Hotel events in Itasca. 

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Builder business was strong in the 90’s, and Roger developed business growth through large builder dealers such as Coleman Floors, Koeckritz and FCA. But the biggest challenge of the 90’s was when Bob Shaw decided that Shaw would go into retail. That was a huge lesson in patience and perseverance.

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In 1998 Roger was promoted to Regional Vice President for Sutton Carpet Mills, responsible for 12 states in the Midwest. He learned a great deal about marketing and merchandising and promotions. It was fun to sell with style and color first and foremost, as opposed to just price. When Sutton merged with Queen Carpet, Roger became the Regional Manager in Iowa, suburban Chicago, outstate Illinois, and southern Wisconsin. In 2010 Roger assumed his final position with Shaw as the Divisional Manager for Buying Groups, with responsibility for ten states in the Midwest. 

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Roger has been married to his wife Lynn or the past seventeen years. Many of you know her from her work at Shaw as well. Roger is very proud of his children. Meredith, Abigail, Victoria and son Alexander. Roger definitely counts Lynn’s daughter Brooke Burton, as his fifth child. Brooke is a Patcraft rep in Charlotte, NC.

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Last Spring, Roger retired and he and Lynn moved to Savannah Lakes Village near McCormick, SC, which is 50 miles north of Augusta, GA. Savannah Lakes in a 55-plu community for boating and golf enthusiasts. He is a voracious reader, and counts John Sandford, Tom Clancy, C.J. Box, and Lee Child as his favorite authors.  Roger has dedicated his career to the Floor covering industry, has consistently supported all of the CFA functions throughout the years and even served on the CFA Board in the past.  We at CFA are proud to have him for our 2018 Person of the Year!