Restoration Industry Association (RIA) members from Australia, Canada and US came together in Chicago to complete RIA’s signature Certified Restorer (CR) advanced certification preparatory course, ahead of a new educational program slated for 2017.
Hosted by Jon Don for the second year and held at the RIA’s state of the art training centre at its headquarters in Roselle, Illinios earlier this month, the course included five members from Australia, three from Canada and six from the US.
The 2016 CR course concludes RIA’s certification grandfathering period as the association prepares to roll out a revised advanced certification programs in 2017 for the CR and Water Loss Specialist (WLS) designations.
Changes to the CR program are the first since the designation was first conceived by the late Martin L. King, CR, ASA in 1980.
The CR has long been considered the most prestigious and difficult credential for a professional restorer to attain.
The Certified Restorer Body of Knowledge, which has been in development for six years, is expected to be released to the industry in the first quarter of 2017 and serve as the basis for RIA’s updated certification programs to be rolled out in the second quarter of 2017.
The 2016 CR course had two guest instructors join CR lead instructor Ken Larsen, CR, WLS and facilitator Pete Consigli, CR, WLS.
RIA Education Committee member Josh Miller, CR, WLS, CMP and Lorne McIntyre, CR, WLS, RIA’s Canadian Council education subcommittee chair joined Consigli and Larsen as the association expands its educational team by mentoring the next generation of trainers.
The CR and WLS courses have a tradition of inviting local subject matter experts (SMEs) to present at their advanced course prep weeks.
This year, Bartosz A. Dajnowski, MS, president at G.C. Laser Systems Inc., gave an informative presentation on the use of laser technology originally developed for art restoration which is now being adapted for building and contents restoration applications.
The 2016 course was characterised by Larsen as a “CR legacy” class. Consigli opined that the demographics of this class suits the legacy moniker based on the international make-up of the 2016 CR candidates.
restorationindustry.org