WoodLINKS USA is pleased to announce two new board members that have taken office as of July 2009. The new board members are Mitch Kohanek of Dakota County Technical College and Thomas Tuck of SCM Group USA, Inc.

Mitch Kohanek has been an instructor for the Wood Finishing Technology Program at Dakota County Technical college in Rosemount, MN, since 1978. His graduates become the best professional finishers, furniture restorers, spot repair artists and pre-finishers this country has to offer. The program is the only certified finishing program in the United States and has been featured in Fine Woodworking and Better Homes and Gardens Wood magazine. Mitch completed an internship at the Smithsonian Conservation and Analytical Laboratory and is a member of the American Institute of Conservation. He has lectured all over the United States, has been a consultant for the finishing industry and has authored articles for American Woodworker and Fine Woodworking Magazines.

Thomas Tuck, of the SCM Group USA, was born and raised in Hillsborough, NC. In 2003, he graduated from Keith Yow's Cedar Ridge High School WoodLINKS USA program and received his WoodLINKS Certification. Tuck attended Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, where he graduated with honors and received a Bachelors of Science in Furniture Studies and a Bachelors of Science in Business Management. While in school, Tuck interned with Great Lakes Woods of Holland, MI, and the Association of Woodworking Furnishing Suppliers (AWFS) of Commerce, CA, was named Wood Digest Student of the Month in November 2005 and received scholarships from AWFS, the WMIA, WoodWork Institute and American Home Furnishing Alliance. After graduating from ASU, Tuck began working at SCM Group USA, a world leader of industrial woodworking equipment in Duluth, GA, as a Marketing Coordinator. Tuck now continues as Marketing Coordingator and also works as Regional Sales Manager in parts of the South East.