Rich co-founded the America’s Best Bootfitters/Masterfit/SKI Magazine on-hill alpine ski boot testing program in 1987 and has been an active tester since the program’s inception. He is also co-founder of Masterfit University, the snowsports industry’s premier bootfit training program.   While no longer an active member of the instructional staff, Rich remains an integral part of the company. He heads Masterfit’s R&D operations and is the creative force behind the company’s insole, fit aid, and tool products.

A Board Certified Pedorthist since 1983, he also owns and operates the New York City-based U.S. Orthotic Center, a leader in advanced fitting techniques and orthotic and footbed manufacturing. USOC is currently the exclusive custom orthotic provider to the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets. USOC has additionally fabricated orthotics for numerous athletes from Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the international tennis and golf tours and the US Olympic team.

He has written extensively about ski boots and fitting issues and also written for Biomechanics Magazine.  He has presented for the Pedorthic Footcare Association (PFA) and the Professional Ski Instructors of America.

Rich holds seven U.S. patents including three for orthotic designs. He was recently appointed to the Board of Directors and serves on the Educational Committee at the PFA. He also heads the pedorthic lab and teaches pedorthics at Hamad Hospital in Qatar.

Hoffmann works out of SnowCreek Mountain Sports in SnowShoe, WV. He is a veteran Masterfit University instructor, former board-certified Pedorthist, a long-time boot tester and former PSIA level III Alpine instructor. Don’t mistake the faraway look in his eye for a hippy glaze-over. More likely he’s just visualizing his summer in Cape Hatteras, NC which he spends kiteboarding, windsurfing, surfing and fishing from his boat, the Misphitty.  He has worked professionally in the ski industry since 1979.

Schaffner has been working in the ski industry his entire adult life. Originally from the Midwest, where he honed his skills in bootfitting and ski preparation, he started in ski retail as a teen and quickly worked his way up to providing race service for Salomon North America. His greatest love is enhancing the performance of athletes he works with. Schaffner has stayed involved in teaching the art of bootfitting, and still works on the boots of many US Ski Team athletes. In addition, he has written articles for ski magazines and a series of informational boot and ski videos that are available online. Home is in Truckee, CA where he operates The Start Haus ski shop.

Bradley has worked in the ski industry since the mid-80s. He moved to Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico in 1992 to work for the Bootdoctors where he has been lucky to work with a bunch passionate skiers and bootfitters. Along side being one of Masterfit University’s lead gurus, Bradley also tests ski boots for America’s Best Bootfitters. In the off-season he enjoys surfing, fly fishing, tennis, and volleyball among other things.

Tischendorf worked with athletes in a sports podiatry clinic in Australia before seeing the light and moving to Telluride, CO. She is the supervising and (currently) only female bootfitter at Bootdoctors. Tischendorf joined the Masterfit University teaching team in 2014 in both Australia (using her native tongue) and throughout the United States (with a team of translators). She is a contributor to the Tecnica/Blizzard WomentoWomen initiative and flies her flag amongst the Project165 team for Tecnica. When not wintering, she can be found trail running and giggling down single track on her bike.

Julie Kehoe is a university-trained architect, but followed her passion and has been a ski industry lifer since 2007. She began in shop retail ops and bootfitting and has worked in shops in Vermont, Michigan and New Zealand as a bootfitter, hardgoods and tech department manager. She currently splits her time between bootfitting and ski coaching. She is head ski coach/director at Cranbrook High School, a private institution in Bloomfield, MI and also coaches at BD Performance Racing at Mt. Hood, OR. She is a USSA Certified Ski Coach, USSA Referee Level 1 and USSA Chief of Course Level 1.

Harper has worked in the ski industry since 1991. He got his start with the National Ski Patrol then moved to the retail side, managing shops, ski tuning, and bootfitting. His primary focus for the last 18 years has been on bootfitting. He is currently the head bootfitter for Ski Boot Fitting, Inc. at its Vail Sports location, where he has worked since 2009. An avid outdoor enthusiast, Harper enjoys skiing, mountain biking, hiking and he lived off-the-grid for two years in a teepee. In the summer he works as a bike mechanic for Vail Resorts and mountain bikes as much as possible.

Shayler has instructed on the European Masterfit courses since 2013. As one of the youngest members of the Masterfit team his journey started back in 2009 when he attended the first European Masterfit course. Since then, he has not looked back and has had relished the opportunity to work for two great companies in Outdoor Traders (UK) and DaleBoot. This combined with being involved with Masterfit first as a student and now as an instructor has meant that his learning curve when it comes to ski bootfitting has been vast. In his current job, he is responsible for making the majority of DaleBoot ski boots sold in Europe and as a result, has a unique and interesting approach on bootfitting and what it takes to make a ski boot from start to finish.

Graham, a former accomplished professional athlete, is the owner of DaleBoot Custom Made Ski Boots, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Based in Kitzbühel, Austria, at his company’s European headquarters, Graham spearheads Masterfit’s European education effort and distribution operations. In addition to running DaleBoot’s worldwide business, Rob’s generally found at the fit bench or in DaleBoot’s custom orthotics lab, fine tuning each custom fit. He’s been recognized by several members of the Österreichischel Gesellschaft für Orthopädie une Orthopädische Chirugie (Austrian Orthopaedic Society) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Orthopädie und Orthopädische Chirugie (German Orthopaedic Society) as an expert pedorthist, specialized in stance balance, alignment, custom insole and orthotic fabrication.

Sigvartsen is the head bootfitter at Steep & Deep. A special ski shop, and the official collaborator to the Danish power center for race skiers. Located north of Copenhagen, Denmark, Christian specializes in off-mountain bootfitting, working only by appointment. Christian is known for his uncompromising approach to make the boot fit before sending his customers 1400 km away to ski the boots. Christian has been working in outdoor and ski shops since 1996 and has been working with bikefitting in the summer season since 2012.

Johnston is the owner of Boot Mechanics in Golden, CO, and an instructor for Masterfit University. A devoted, lifetime skier and competitive racer for six years, when he’s not at his shop you can find him skiing on his home mountain, Vail.