Authors: WoolSafe Course

Paul Bakker – WoolSafe Chairman

Paul Bakker is Chairman of The WoolSafe Organization which was founded in 1991 and based in England. Other offices are located in Europe, North America and Australia

Paul worked for 24 years for the International Wool Secretariat as a carpet technologist, specializing in carpet performance, coloration, hygiene and maintenance. He helped develop wool carpet printing, antistatic, soil resist and stain blocking technologies.

For 3 years he was Wools of New Zealand’s Manager Contract Carpet Development.

Paul acted as a member and later chairman of the British Standards Institute committee that developed BS 4088, Carpet Cleaning Products. He was chairman from 1989-2000 of the International Standards Organization technical committee that developed four international standards for carpet soiling and cleaning.

Paul served as a consultant to ISO TC 129, Floorings, on carpet maintenance standard development from 2006 - 2010.

Ruth Travis – WoolSafe North American Director

Ruth Travis holds a degree in Textiles from the University of Tennessee. She began her career in the industry by founding a diversified carpet and fabric cleaning business, Interior Care, in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1988. She began selling rugs in 1995 with the founding of her rug sales outlet, the Rug Exchange. RL Seminars, Inc. was founded by Ruth in 1998.

Since 1988, Ruth has written dozens of articles for industry trade magazines. She has served as President of the Society of Cleaning and Restoration Technicians for five terms. She also served as President, Vice-President and Marketing Chair of the IICRC and was instrumental in creating or revising many of its current 22 certification categories. She currently is an IICRC-approved Master Textile Cleaner, Senior Carpet Inspector, instructor for Color Repair Technician and Rug Cleaning Technician Certification Categories.

In 2012 she became a Master Rug Cleaner.

She has participated in writing the S300 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Upholstery Cleaning for the industry in 2000, and in the revisions of IICRC S100 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Carpet Cleaning in 2002 and 20011.

After fulfilling her duties as IICRC President from 2006-2008, Ruth became the Director of WoolSafe in North America. Since June 2011, she has been working as a fabric and rug care consultant for Chase Carpet and Rug Care in Denver, Colorado.