John Carter has been involved in the cleaning and restoration industry for 25 years. John, a Northwest native had the pleasure of serving four years in the U.S. Army as a "Green Beret" in a Special Forces unit at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. There, he met his lovely wife "Wendy" while in the Army, and soon after added four children-John Jr., Justin, Steven, and Kaylen. As a continued devotion to each other, they a have been married for over 28 years. Upon exiting the Army, I attended Portland State University, and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and marketing. While attending college, my wife and I started a small janitorial service with a budget of less than $400.00, which quickly transformed itself into a professional carpet cleaning company. I developed the specialty skill of carpet color correction early in my carpet cleaning career, and also became certified as a "Senior Carpet Inspector" Our professional carpet cleaning company eventually grew into a three truck operation that catered to repeat and referral customers exclusively. In 1993, I handed over the operation of the carpet cleaning operation to my nephew Darin, who still runs the company to this day. I was then free in October of 1993 to begin a new business venture in the wholesale distribution trade. Since 1993, Cleaning and Restoration Supply has grown to be one of the largest suppliers of professional carpet and restoration equipment on the west coast today. I still currently involved in the daily operation of CRS. During the growing years at CRS, we saw the need to add instructor staff for our store training needs, and started a new education division which was named "Academy 2000". Sherman Guffy, George Cazares, as well as myself ultimately comprised the instructor staff. I personally am certified to teach the IICRC Color Repair Technician course, as well as the IICRC Senior Carpet Inspector Course. Ultimately, in August of 2003, Academy 2000 was separated from CRS as a separate business entity and renamed as "ABS Group, LLC". Sherman, George, and myself became equal partners of ABS Group under the reorganization.