Bob Haggard, president of NOFMA, spoke toNFTrecently about having his more than 100-year-old organization become part of the National Wood Flooring Association. He said the merger was in the works for a little more than a year and was necessary to ensure NOFMA would not lose its "brand awareness," particularly its grading and certification system.
"Our association NOFMA had fallen on incredibly hard times," Haggard stated frankly. "We were losing money hand over fist. We had to make some kind of major change or we were going to go out of business."
He said the merger with NWFA allows NOFMA to continue its work but with a broader scope. "NWFA is going to set up a U.S. solid wood flooring manufacturers group, and under that group would be NOFMA. Two of our NOFMA members will sit directly on the NWFA board. We will keep the standards that NOFMA created and maintained, but under the NWFA umbrella," he said.
Haggard noted that NOFMA's Regina Thornburg will stay on board as office manager, working for the NWFA from Memphis, Tenn, first from the NOFMA offices, then from her home once the office lease expires. Additionally, NOFMA's mill inspector, John Ryder, plans to join the NWFA staff. Mickey Moore, technical director for NOFMA, might join the group as a consultant, but those plans haven't been finalized, Haggard said. Haggard expects to ultimately sit on the NWFA board along with Tommy Maxwell, NOFMA's vp, though those plans haven't been finalized either.
"We anticipate we'll be a standalone group within NWFA but still maintain NOFMA's standards and certify hardwood flooring for anyone who wants to go through the process," Haggard said.