Spencer Hess

Areas of Expertise

Spencer Hess started in the restoration industry in 1979 and helped pioneer use of desiccant dehumidifiers to dry water damaged building materials. In 1984 he founded Butler/Commercial Drying Technologies, Inc. in New York, USA. Today, Commercial Drying Technologies is one of the largest independent drying firms in the United States.

As the water damage industry grew, the insurance industry has recognized desiccant drying becoming the standard of care on commercial losses. Spencer recognized that this trend will continue to grow as indoor air quality, etc. is an issue that will not go away. Realizing the need for more advanced equipment than currently available, in 2002 Spencer started Industrial Drying Equipment, LLC and has currently been awarded two patents with eight more pending.

To date, Commercial Drying Technologies has completed more than1000 drying projects, including schools, hospitals, libraries, research facilities, power plants, universities, major hotel chains, and the New York Stock Exchange.

Credentials

Currently Mr. Hess is on the revision committee for the IICRC S500 Water Damage Standard and is assisting in writing the dehumidification drying protocol for the IICRC S-520 Mold Remediation Standard.

He has taught a section of the mold remediation course at the University City Science Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition, he has taught a segment for the Certification of Mold Remediation Technicians for the American Indoor Air Quality Association. Mr. Hess is also on the review committee for IAQA's document (Recommended Mold Remediation Protocol). He recently was a keynote speaker at the Water Loss Institute, where his subject was Environmental Drying. Mr. Hess continues to be one of the innovators in drying equipment and procedural development.

Jeffrey A. Wilson

Areas of Expertise

Jeffrey A. Wilson, Vice President, is responsible for the daily operations, logistics and field support for the Mid-West region of the CDT companies. Mr. Wilson has an extensive background in both National and International disaster recovery and project management experience on individual recovery projects exceeding three hundred million dollars in value.

Previous experience includes restoration and recovery of facility electrical and mechanical systems, communication systems, enterprise computer networks, medical equipment and systems, and extensive experience with multi-platform data recovery as well as structural remediation and recovery due to fire, flood, and explosion. Five years in the United States Marine Corps as an Aviation Electronics Specialist in communication, navigation and airborne cryptographic systems. Quality Assurance Inspector for an aircraft group of one-hundred and twenty-seven aircraft. International Work has been performed in twenty-six countries on four continents.

Education and Credentials

AVA-A1- NAMTRADET- Journeyman Avionics Technician/Aviation Electrician
Secret Security Clearance- United States Government
Microsoft Certified Professional
A+ Certified Computer Technician
3M Micro-miniature repair certified
Board Certified Education Instructor for the State of Ohio
IICRC
CRT
WRT

Edwin C. Hamlin

Areas of Expertise

Edwin Cliburn Hamlin began his career in banking with Wachovia Corporation in Winston-Salem, NC. After eight years in corporate banking, Edwin left the banking profession as a Vice President in 1992 to pursue a sales position with Universal Solutions International, Inc. (USI), a reverse logistics solution provider. After 12 years and five promotions, he was successful in developing a portfolio that represents 43% of USI’s consumer goods client base. In 2004, Edwin left Universal Solutions to join NBD International, Inc., (NBD) a restoration company to provide content solutions to the insurance industry. While there, Edwin planned, developed, budgeted, marketed, introduced, sold and trained the Smart Contents System™ internet software solution used for capturing insurance claimed content losses and providing replacement and restoration cost to the restoration, contractor, and insurance company subscriber. On November 2005, Edwin left NBD and is now spearheading the sales and marketing efforts for CDT Companies, as their Vice President of Business Development and General Manager.

Education and Credentials

B.A. in Business Administration and Accounting
Who’s Who in Business and Finance
Who’s Who in the World

Membership in Professional and Civic Organizations

Involved in a number of civic and community activities throughout the city of Winston-Salem, he has served including:

Winston-Salem Leadership
Leadership Trust
Emerging Leaders and Forsyth Early Childhood Partnership Allocation Board
Chairman of the Official Board of Greater Cleveland Avenue Christian Church – a 4,000 member organization.

Robert W. Byrnes

Areas of Expertise

Robert W. Byrnes, Internal Consultant, provides consulting services for the Firm's clients in the manufacturing and distribution industries. These services include accounting, pricing, inventory control and valuations, budgeting, costing, financial reporting, internal controls, production management, profitability enhancement, bank negotiations, human resource staffing and management, as well as the selection, implementation and maintenance of accounting and manufacturing systems including DBA Manufacturing Software, Mapics II, MAS 90, and Peachtree.
With more than 20 years of experience as a senior executive in several middle market manufacturing and distribution companies, Mr. Byrnes has been instrumental in increasing the profitability of these companies. He has taken new companies from start-up to multimillion dollar operations.

Education and Credentials

Georgian Court University - Bachelor of Science in Accounting
Brick Computer Science Institute - Computer Programming

Frank Conte

Areas of Expertise

Frank Conte is the Administrator of Commercial Drying Research Institute. For the past 12 years Frank has been involved in actual project management of larger commercial water damage losses, from project assessment and equipment strategy to actual day-to-day moisture monitoring. He has been involved with the financial process in project cost and negotiation with end uses.

He has also been at the forefront of education to contractors, government officials, insurance claims professionals, risk managers, building managers, and other primary end user of disaster services through Commercial Drying Research Institute.

Matthew Hess

Areas of Expertise

Matthew Hess has been working with Commercial Drying Technologies, Inc. for 3 years. He has been a drying technician and project manager. He has had IICRC training and certification in water damage and applied structural drying.

He has been involved in crew organization and project execution on major commercial drying and environmental losses. He has been involved in electronic record keeping and electronic documentation of projects.

Selected Sampling of Projects

Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada
U.S. Naval Base, Washington, D.C.
Pope Air Force Base, Lafayette, NC
Proctor & Gamble, Jackson, TN
Hilton/Hyatt Hotel projects, Guam

Thomas Rupp

Areas of Expertise

Thomas Rupp is CDT’s Field Operation Manager responsible for coordinating and organizing rapid response to commercial drying projects.

Tom oversees and manages project managers, commercial drying technician assignments and equipment movement. He is responsible for equipment productivity and equipment procurement to insure proper coverage and support to all drying projects. He is aware of all projects and their locations. He monitors and verifies equipment pull off and job completion. He collects records and project information to be passed on to the accounting department.

He has attended IICRC courses in water damage.

Selected Sampling of Projects

Hilton / Hyatt projects, Guam
Marriott Financial, Ground Zero
Longwood College, Farmville, VA
George Mason University