2023 Annual Conference
Speakers
AZBY BROWN
Azby Brown is a native of New Orleans, and has lived in Japan since 1985. He is a leading authority on Japanese architecture, design, and environmentalism, and the author of many influential books and articles, including The Very Small Home (2005), Just... read more
ED SHURE
Timmerhus, Founder
Architect Ed Shure has nearly always known that he would follow a career that allowed him to make practical, beautiful things. To that end, he studied fine art and mechanical engineering, and completed a machinist certification program. Until a working visit to... read more
TOM BODETT
HatchSpace, Co-founder
Tom Bodett made his national broadcasting debut in 1984 on NPR’s evening news program All Things Considered. He has been the brand spokesman for the Motel 6 lodging chain for 35 years. The author of seven books and numerous audio publications, his... read more
Adam Riley
Cloud 9 Builders, President
Adam was born in New Hampshire, and raised in Maine and New Hampshire among the hardy Yankees of northern New England and the rich history of timber-framed homes, barns, churches, and town halls. He earned his bachelor's in civil engineering from the... read more
Presentation
Al Cobb
Cobb & Associates, Principal
Al Cobb is an authority on Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs). His 30+ year career in SIPs includes every facet of manufacturing, design, and installation with over a thousand projects to his credit. As a speaker and trainer Al consults with companies exploring SIPs... read more
Presentation
Al Wallace
Energy Environmental Corporation, President & Founder
Al Wallace has been a TFG member since 1990 and is an expert in these technologies with certifications as a Certified GeoExchange Designer and Certified Energy Manager with the Association of Energy Engineers, and a LEED for Homes Accredited Professional with the... read more
Presentation
Andrea Warchaizer
Springpoint, Inc., Principal
Andrea is a graduate of the Yale University School of Architecture and has worked as a residential designer since 1990. In 1994 she started her own residential design firm, now known as Springpoint Incorporated. Andrea has taught extensively, including classes at Keene... read more
Presentation
Ben Brungraber
Fire Tower Engineered Timber, Founder
Ben Brungraber, Ph.D., P.E., holds a Master of Science from Colorado State in Timber Structures and a Ph.D. in Mortise and Tenon Joinery from Stanford University. In his early years, Ben worked in the construction industry after acquiring his civil engineering degree... read more
Presentation
Bill Sturm
Oregon Timberworks, Owner
Bill Sturm began his career as an architecture student at Georgia Institute of Technology. He spent a year in Paris studying design and architecture. After returning to the states and a subsequent 6 months hiking the Appalachian Trail, he decided to get... read more
Presentation
Chris Koehn
Timber Framers Guild, President
Over the years, Chris Koehn has had the great fortune to wear lots of different hats within the timber framing universe. He's worked with companies that transitioned from hand-cut to automated operations with the advent of the Hundegger. He's worked with start-ups... read more
Presentation
Chris Sturm
Colorado Water Conservation Board, Watershed Program Director
Chris Sturm obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Georgia. He worked for several years in education around natural resources, until he arrived in Colorado in 2000. He has worked with agricultural, municipal, environmental, and recreational uses of water... read more
Presentation
Corey Omey
EMA Architecture, Managing Partner
Corey’s background and interest in architecture began as a child, growing up in a family of builders and a sustainable community of craftspeople and artists, and working for ten summers at a pottery studio in West Michigan. Corey began his professional career... read more
Presentation
Craig Colomb
hsbcad, COO & Software Engineer
Craig Colomb graduated from WVU with a dual major in physics and math. Following graduation, he did a stint as a raft guide and kayak instructor. Failing to find financial success on the river, he founded Precision Structures, LLC, in 1992. A... read more
Presentation
Dai Ona
Daizen Joinery, Ltd, Founder, Owner
Dai Ona emigrated to Canada from Japan and started Daizen Joinery in 1990 in Parksville, British Columbia, where he focused his efforts on hand timber building and joinery, and exporting frame products to Asian markets. Dai relocated his business to the Interior... read more
Presentation
David Petrina
Kettle River Timberworks, Founder & Owner
Dave Petrina founded Kettle River Timberworks in 2004. He's a mechanical engineer from the high-tech industry who fell in love with timber framing while building a family timber frame cabin and quit his day job designing fuel cells to start Kettle River.... read more
Presentation
Dick Schmidt
Fire Tower Engineered Timber, Engineer
Dick Schmidt is a structural engineer with Fire Tower Engineered Timber. His engineering consulting work involves design of timber frame structures, condition assessment of existing buildings, species identification and grading of timbers, and reuse of reclaimed timbers. He is an... read more
Presentation
Ethan Martin
DCI Engineers, Director of Sustainability & Mass Timber
Ethan Martin brings a wealth of engineering design experience to the industry, particularly in the area of advocacy and his personal contribution to the application of mass timber. Working with mass timber manufacturers worldwide, Ethan has developed solutions that assist general contractors... read more
Presentation
Hannes Blaas
Rothoblaas USA, CEO
Hannes is CEO of Rothoblaas USA and followed the development of modern timber construction in different countries around the world very closely. While working in Switzerland, the UK, Canada, USA, and recently China, he tries to support the industry’s continuous development and... read more
Presentation
Jackson DuBois
Timber Framers Guild, Interim Executive Director
Jackson has been an active member of the Timber Framers Guild for almost 20 years and is currently serving as interim executive director. Raised in the Pacific Northwest he has called central New York home for almost 10 years. His passions include... read more
Presentation
Joe Miller
Fire Tower Engineered Timber, Partner
Joe Miller, PhD, PE, PEng, is a structural engineer specializing in the design and engineering of timber framer structures. As partner with Fire Tower Engineered Timber, he heads up the Michigan office located near the shore of Lake Superior. Catching the timber... read more
Presentation
John Buday
Cascade Crest Designs, Owner
John Buday's perfectly reasonable career as a residential carpenter starting in the late 1970s became significantly sidetracked after a chance encounter with timber framing, in the person of one Mark Witter, which led to participation in a 2002 Guild project in Sechelt,... read more
Presentation
John Kain
Tectum Armstrong Ceilings and Walls, Senior Manager, Architectural Specialties Sales Integration
John Kain, LEED AP, CSI CDT, is Senior Manager, Architectural Specialties Sales Integration, Tectum Armstrong Ceilings and Walls. John is a specialist in building design solutions and architectural acoustics with over 35 years in the commercial construction industry. He is currently... read more
Presentation
Koji Toda
Toda Komuten, Architect
Koji Toda is a Japan-based architect at his family's design-build firm, Toda Komuten, and a member of the Kominka Collective. Koji is active in a range of initiatives in Japan aimed at preserving built cultural heritage and revitalizing rural communities. read more
Presentation
Kunito Niwa
Kominka Collective, Director
Kunito Niwa is the director of the Kominka Collective, a not-for-profit-company working to preserve, protect, and support the reconstruction of Japanese kominka folk houses while passing on traditional building methods. Kunito is active in a range of initiatives in Japan aimed at... read more
Presentation
Kyle Murphy
Falling Acorn Timber Frames, Owner
Kyle Murphy lives in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he has been timber framing for 14 years and has owned and operated Falling Acorn Timber Frames for 13 years. He was first introduced to timber framing while working for a millwright, restoring historic gristmills.... read more
Presentation
Marie Brown
Handshouse Studio, Executive Director
Marie is a director and maker who received her MFA in Directing from the University of Texas at Austin, and her BA in Music and Theatre from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and developed a broad range of skills... read more
Presentation
Michael Cuba
Transom Historic Preservation Consulting, Principal
Michael's career in restoration timber framing began while working at the Institute for Social Ecology with Seth Kelley. After a few years in the field, they founded Knobb Hill Joinery, focusing on preservation and restoration timber framing while occasionally designing and cutting... read more
Presentation
Paul Laudenschlager
Alpen Engineering, Principal
Paul Laudenschlager, P.E., has been engineering timber frame structures for over 25 years after an architect brought him a timber frame project in 1997 to re-engineer. He managed to make it work without the two ridiculous steel moment frames the previous engineer... read more
Presentation
Ron Anthony
Anthony & Associates, Inc., President & Wood Scientist
Ron Anthony received an M.S. in Wood Science and Technology from Colorado State University. In 2000, he formed Anthony & Associates, Inc. to focus on evaluating the performance of wood in historic structures and conducting forensic investigations. His research activities have focused... read more
Presentation
Rudy R. Christian
Christian & Son, Inc., President
Rudy R. Christian is a founding member and past president of the Timber Framers Guild, founding member and past president of Friends of Ohio Barns, founding member and past Executive Director of the Preservation Trades Network, and a founding member of the... read more
Presentation
Sandy Bennett
Blue Ridge Timberwrights, President
Sandy Bennett is president of Blue Ridge Timberwrights, based in Christiansburg, Virginia, building "tremendous structures around the country" for more than 25 years. He also serves on the Guild board. read more
Presentation
Scott Ratterman
Eclipse Engineering, Branch Manager
Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Scott Ratterman, P.E., moved west to go to college. He has a BS in Civil Engineering from Gonzaga University. Scott has been with Eclipse Engineering for more than 10 years where his current role is Group Director of... read more
Presentation
Stephen Morrison
MoreSun Timber Frames, President
Stephen Morrison started woodworking straight out of high school, building furniture in a shop in Atlanta and working in a cabinet shop in Montana. Coming back to the Southeast to work as a raft guide, he stumbled into timber framing quite accidentally.... read more
Presentation
Steve Lawrence
Timber Framers Guild, Community Building Projects Program Director
I have been timber framing since 1990 with Carpenter Oak and Woodland Co. in the UK. Moving to Canada in 2005, I founded and operated Macdonald & Lawrence Timber Framing. I now work freelance as a part-time contractor, consultant, and project manager... read more
Presentation
Thomas Tannert
University of Northern British Columbia, Professor
Thomas Tannert joined the University of Northern British Columbia in 2016 as BC Leadership Chair in Tall Wood and Hybrid Structures Engineering. Thomas received his PhD from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, a Master’s degree in Wood Science and Technology... read more
www2.unbc.ca/people/tannert-dr-thomas
Presentation
Yann Giguère
Mokuchi Woodworking, Owner
Now based in Ashland Oregon, Yann Giguère has been a professional woodworker since 1991 and founded Mokuchi Studio in 2008. Originally from the province of Quebec, he came to the US and began his training in Western woodworking at the Maharishi University... read more
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Thank You To Our Visionary Partners
