Forum Speakers
Pete Consigli, CR, WLS. IESF Conference Facilitator & Program Director
Pete Consigli is a Certified Restorer (CR) and Water Loss Specialist (WLS) and has been a member of the Restoration Industry
Association (RIA) since 1977. In 2008, Pete received RIA’s most prestigious honor for excellence in restoration and was awarded
the Martin L. King award. In 2012, Pete was made RIA’s Industry Adviser and became an honorary member of the association
following in the footsteps of long time mentor Marty King, CR, ASA. In 2015 Pete was appointed as RIA’s Director of Education.
Pete’s other duties with RIA include being the WLS program adviser and certification prep course facilitator, a member of
Cleaning and Restoration magazine’s (C&R) editorial advisory committee and the association’s liaison to Purdue’s Construction
Advisory Council (CAC). The Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) inducted Pete into the IAQA Hall of Fame in March 2015.
Pete has a reoccurring role on the IAQ Radio show as the Restoration Industry Global Watchdog.
John Lapotaire, CIEC & Lydia Lapotaire, CIEC
John, together with his wife Lydia, have owned and operated Orlando Florida based Indoor Air Quality Solutions since 2001.
John is a Building Envelope & Indoor Environment Consultant specializing in building product failure investigations, forensic
water intrusion investigations, and building envelope failure investigations for both commercial and residential structures.
John and Lydia are Florida Licensed Mold Assessors, Certified Indoor Environmental Consultants CIEC’s, and John is a Certified
Environmental Thermography Consultant and together have performed investigations, and forensic diagnostic inspections
throughout the mid-West and Eastern United States as well as done numerous presentations on subjects that include Spray
Polyurethane Foam Insulation, Building Envelope Failures Investigations, Indoor Environmental Assessments, Mold Assessments,
Green Building and IAQ, LEED Buildings and IAQ, and Reducing VOC’s in New Construction.
John has also served as an expert witness in court cases involving many of the subjects listed above in several hundred
litigation cases.
Dr. Ralph Moon, PhD, CHMM, CIAQP
Dr. Ralph Moon manages the Building Sciences Department at GHD Services Inc. in Tampa, Florida. His research
area is interpreting the duration of time wood and metal materials are exposed to moisture. He is a frequent speaker
at insurance-related conferences and participant in the ASCE Forensic Engineering Congress and has published over
100 technical and peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Moon was awarded a B.S in Biology from Western Michigan University,
and a MS.in Botany and PhD in Biology from the University of South Florida.
Harvey V. Cohen, Esq.
After graduating from Stetson School of Law, Mr. Cohen was employed by the State Attorney’s Office. As a state prosecutor,
Mr. Cohen handled thousands of criminal cases. He conducted over 40 jury trials. Later, Mr. Cohen branched out as
a solo practitioner.
During hurricane season in Florida in 2004 and 2005, Mr. Cohen represented homeowners who suffered hurricane damage
to their homes. Mr. Cohen has handled thousands of insurance claims. He is known throughout the state of Florida and
nationwide as the go to attorney for Assignment of Benefit (AOB) contract cases as they pertain to the restoration industry.
In addition to practicing law, Mr. Cohen has been a presenter for the Restoration Industry Association (RIA) and other
professional trade groups. The RIA is the oldest and largest nonprofit professional trade association dedicated to
providing leadership and promoting best practices through advocacy standards and professional qualifications for the
restoration industry. He was the author representing the homeowner’s viewpoint for RIA’s Closing the Gap presentations
in 2012. Mr. Cohen’s position paper was updated and published in Cleaning and Restoration (C&R) magazine in 2016.
Joe Hughes, CIEC
Mr. Hughes is the President of IAQ Training Institute, LLC (IAQTI) an environmental consulting, training and media corporation
located in Central City, Pennsylvania. IAQTI is the largest provider of Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) approved training
programs in the nation having provided indoor environmental awareness, investigation and remediation training courses for
employees of over 1,500 companies. IAQTI also provides indoor environmental quality (IEQ) consulting services for a diverse
clientele and produces “IAQ Radio”, a weekly interactive pod-cast on IAQ, disaster restoration and building science issues.
Radio Joe is the co-host of IAQ Radio having interviewed many of the top IAQ, building science and disaster restoration experts
in North America over the past ten years. Joe and his Co-host Cliff “The Z-man Zlotnik” were inducted into the IAQA Hall of Fame
in 2016. Mr. Hughes served on the Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) board of directors from 2003 to 2009 and on the Institute
for Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) Board of Directors from 2013 to 2016.
Cliff Zlotnik, CR, WLS, CMH
Cliff is a past President of RIA (ASCR) and recipient of the Martin L. King award in 1992. A long time association volunteer
and published author in C&R magazine he received the Golden Quill award, is a frequent contributor to trade journals and
sought after presenter for industry events. Cliff’s credentials include receiving ASCR’s prestigious Helen Bradley service award.
Acknowledged as an accomplished service contractor, subject matter expert, trainer and industry pioneer; his unique set of
industry experiences inspired the efficient, practical and cost effective solutions he developed to common industry problems.
From ordinary to the extraordinary, he has worked on thousands of projects from small apartments to high rise buildings,
institutions and factories. His project list even includes work in Kuwait following Operation Desert Storm.
Over his 40 year career, Cliff Zlotnik has been a problem solver who has developed unique processes and products that have
become industry standard practice and are used internationally to mitigate and reduce property damage.
He enjoys sharing his knowledge, expertise and unique point of view through presentations, training courses
and podcasting via Indoor Air Quality Radio under his Z-man moniker.
Ken Larsen, CR, WLS, CSDS
Ken Larsen, CR, WLS, CSDS has been in the restoration industry since 1978. He holds RIA, ACAC and IICRC advanced
designations. His career includes 18 years as an independent property restoration contractor, consultant to restorative
drying during catastrophes and large loss drying coordination, expert witness, Director of Education for North America’s
largest disaster restoration contracting organization, and now the author of the industry’s leading technical resource
book on the subject of structural restorative drying – Leadership in Restorative Drying. He is currently an IICRC Approved
instructor of WRT, ASD and CDS certificate courses. He is also one of RIA’s instructors of the restoration professional’s
capstone credential: Certified Restorer (CR). Larsen presently serves as Senior Technical Director for the International
Dry Standard Organization (IDSO) and Director of Education for the Restoration Leadership Institute. Ken lives with his
wife Barbie (yes – really!) in Santa Rosa Beach in Northwest Florida.
Eric Shapiro, CIEC, CMC, CMRS, HHS
Eric Shapiro began his career over 21 years ago as an Air Duct cleaner and Mold Remediator. He began teaching
15 years ago at the National Asbestos Environmental Training Institute in New Jersey. Mr. Shapiro has provided
remediation and oversight services to the Department of Defense, was on the ground providing disaster restoration
services post 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Wilma, and Sandy. He was an original member of the IAQA Home Health
committee which developed Healthy Home Assessment protocols, and taught the first Healthy Home Essential course
in Scarborough Beach, Western Australia. He currently provides consulting and contracting services in Florida and
New Jersey, and holds positions on several IICRC Committees.
