Ruth Travis
With the unique perspective of a small fabric care and rug store business owner, and flooring inspector, Ruth Travis has over 25 years experience in maintenance, restoration and inspection of carpet, rugs and upholstery.
Ruth operated a fabric care service for 13 years with her partner, Ginger in Chattanooga, TN where she performed fabric cleaning, protection, and inspection and color correction services for her clients, interior designers and carpet mills. After selling her share of the business to her partner in 2001, Ruth shifted her focus to training and instructing others in the fabric care industry.
Ruth is the Director of the WoolSafe Program in North America, and an IICRC-Approved Instructor for Senior Carpet Inspector, Rug Cleaning and Color Repair in affiliation with Clean Care Seminars. She is also an IICRC-Certified Carpet Inspector specializing in cleaning realted issues and color correction.
Jeff Bishop
Since 1970 Jeff Bishop has provided management for 3 diversified cleaning and restoration businesses serving Alabama, Georgia and Florida. A '67 graduate of the University of Georgia and the Army Ranger Course, he was decorated as an assault helicopter platoon leader with the 101 Airborne Division in Viet Nam. He is a second-generation restorer, a Certified Master Cleaner, Master Restoration Technician, a Certified Carpet, Vinyl, and Wood Laminate Inspector, and a Certified Mold Remediation Supervisor. He developed several of the courses and examinations in these subjects for the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC).
Jeff's teaching career began in '73, and since then he has produced 13 books and 7 videos on management, cleaning and restoration subjects. He writes a monthly column for Installation and Cleaning Specialist Magazine entitled "Rx for Restoration."
Jeff teaches over 50 courses annually in 10 cleaning and restoration-related subjects. He serves as a consultant to fiber producers, carpet mills, insurance training schools and to a variety of city, state and federal disaster relief agencies. He serves on the advisory board of the Insurance Technical Training Institute, as a Director of the Society of Cleaning and Restoration Technicians. He has served the IICRC as Vice President, Chairman of the Examination and Standards Committee, Chairman of the IICRC Certification Council, and currently, as IICRC Technical Advisor. In this capacity, Bishop oversees the development of technical information in 18 Certification Categories and 4 industry standards, while representing the IICRC on industry technical issues.
In addition to many industry awards, Jeff was honored in 1989 by industry peers when he was inducted as a charter member into the Cleaning and Restoration Hall of Fame. In 1991 he was selected as the CleanFax Magazine "Person of the Year" based on his writing of the IICRC S100 Carpet Cleaning Standard. He served as editor for the writing of IICRC S500 Standard and Reference Guide for Water Damage Restoration, and IICRC S300, Upholstery Cleaning Standard. He was featured on NBC Dateline's expose of deceptive advertising in the cleaning service industry in 2000, having done similar interviews for the FOX affiliate in Atlanta, GA, and KCBS in Los Angeles. In 2002, he was inducted into the Cleaning Management Institute's Hall of Fame and in 2006 the recipient of the Connections Kenway Meade Leadership Award.
As an expert witness, Bishop has provided depositions and testimony in cleaning and restoration litigation. He has participated in several government and industry sponsored studies on carpet performance and indoor environmental quality issues.
An active marathon runner and tri-athlete, Jeff enjoys sailing, jogging, road and mountain biking, and writing poetry. He is the father of 2 married daughters and proud grandfather of 8 grandchildren.
