Photo: WCA
Greg Heuer, one of the original WCA chief evaluators, leads a training workshop for woodworking instructors aspiring to become accredited skill evaluators.
As a fitting tribute to one of its most influential founding fathers, the Woodwork Career Alliance of North America announced the renaming of its teacher financial aid program to the Greg Heuer EDUcation Scholarship Fund.
Heuer, secretary of the WCA Board of Directors since its inception in 2007 and one of the first WCA chief skill evaluators, recently retired from the board.
He is credited by his colleagues for being the driving force that led to the development of the WCA Skill Standards and Passport credentialling system. Together, the Skill Standards and Passport form the foundation of new and evolving WCA programs used by a growing number of schools and wood products companies to teach and train the next generation of woodworking professionals.
The scholarship fund benefits WCA EDUcation member schools. Woodworking instructors can apply for financial aid to help defray the cost of travel to industry events such as the International Woodworking Fair or to cover the WCA membership fees for their students.
“The WCA Board of Directors chose to rename our scholarship fund The Greg Heuer EDUucation Scholarship Fund in honour of Greg’s lifetime of work dedicated to educating those of us within the woodworking industry,” said Scott Nelson, WCA president. “Greg has always been an advocate for the need of skill standards in the industry. He worked tirelessly to help create the Woodwork Career Alliance of North America and see his vision come to fruition.”
Heuer was a staff member of the Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI) when he got involved with the WCA on the ground floor. During his 29-year career with the AWI, Heuer was especially instrumental with helping update the AWI’s Quality Standards. That experience, coupled with his prior career running an architectural woodworking company, made him uniquely qualified to lead the development of WCA’s consensus standards. He took the lead to create a wiki that allowed members of the WCA Skill Standards team across North America to collaborate online.
“Without Greg Heuer, the WCA wouldn’t exist!” said Patrick Molzahn, director of the Cabinetmaking and Millwork program at Madison College, and a founding board member of the WCA. “His vision and leadership early on helped shape this organization. We were able to pull together an impressive set of standards on a shoestring budget by utilizing a wiki. In a post-Covid world, we take online collaboration as routine. However, back in 2007, the world was a much different place. With Greg spearheading the charge, we accomplished this task with minimal face-to-face meetings, creating a set of standards for the wood industry at about one-tenth of the cost compared to the standards for the metal industry. Greg’s ability to leverage technology was just one of his many skills.”
“It’s hard to believe the WCA would be as successful as it is today without Greg’s guidance and dedication early on,” added Greg Larson, vice president of the WCA. “His ability to keep us on track, inspire us during our brainstorming sessions, and his relentless attention to detail certainly helped guarantee our success. I will always remember how he pushed us during our skill standard writing sessions to create the most concise and usable standards we could; I can’t imagine where we’d be today without Greg’s early support and hard work.”
Duane Griffiths, another founding member of the WCA board of directors, also gave high praise to Heuer for his indispensable contributions to the WCA.
“Without a doubt, Greg has been one of the major leaders in WCA. Through his numerous contacts and hard work, he has advanced the organization. When individuals think of WCA they think of Greg.”
For his part, Heuer said he is humbled to have the “ongoing fund associated with my name.”
“Years ago, I felt my legacy to our industry would be the AWI Quality Standards. That turned out not to be the case. In fact, I couldn’t be more proud and grateful that my legacy to our industry includes the founding and nurturing of the Woodwork Career Alliance. This trade/craft has given so much to me and our family. The feeling that I may have returned a small portion of those gifts is heartwarming.”
Heuer added that he has been gratified to played an active part in helping a growing number of woodworking teachers join the WCA.
“Influencing young people to think of our industry as a career, more than just a job, and showing them the pathways to success is vital for the continuation of woodwork manufacturing in North America. I think the future is bright and the possibilities are endless. I hope we can effectively track the young people who earn credentials in their careers. I hope we can tell success stories of WCA folks who rise to their full potential, contribute to their companies, and take personal pride in being practitioners of our trade.”
