Opening Statement – Marc Adams School of Woodworking

The Best Way to

Predict the Future

Is to Plan It

Over the years,

countless students, instructors, staff, and friends have asked me what the plan is for the future of the school beyond Marc Adams. It gives me hope that people are concerned for the future of MASW, or maybe they’re just eager to attend a huge tool auction. Regardless, the question has merit, and after the year we’ve had, it feels right to share where we’re headed.

2025 was one of the toughest years

in the history of the school. Not because of the innerworkings of the school, the workshops were GREAT. The challenge was for the family members of MASW. And when I say family, I mean the alumni, instructors, staff, and close friends who make MASW what it is. There are friends, there are families, and then there are friends that become families; that’s the MASW experience.

This past year we said goodbye to people who shaped this school. We lost Bob Flexner, author of Understanding Wood Finishing and the first instructor to teach ten consecutive years here. A month later, we lost Jeff Vollmer, whose beloved Puzzle Box Making classes sold out for nearly two decades. In May, we lost Nick Agar, one of the most creative turners to ever teach at MASW. Both Nick and Jeff were scheduled to return in 2025. In August, our dear friend and longtime assistant, Herman Bueno, who had been with MASW since the very beginning, lost his battle with cancer. These losses were felt deeply.

There were other hardships, too.

In January, John Beaver, one of our favorite turning instructors, and his wife lost everything they owned in the Palisades fire, but thank God, they made it out alive. Michael Fortune began treatments for prostate cancer right after teaching here in April, and Gary Striegler continues his own battle with the same illness. Both remain remarkably positive and inspiring. Six more instructors had to be removed from the schedule due to health or unforeseen life challenges. Among our alumni, we said farewell to close friends and watched many others face difficult life struggles.

Our staff endured their own trials. Tyler Allen took time off to be with his father, who passed away in May. Doug Dale spent time in a Cincinnati hospital with a severe case of pneumonia (though after five days, I think he just walked out when they ran out of Mountain Dew IVs). Brian Byrne underwent surgery. My cousin Diane Drake’s husband became gravely ill, only to learn he had two brain tumors. Abi and Nick, our kitchen team, each had mothers battling cancer—Abi’s mother lost her fight, and Nick’s mother continues treatment after surgery.

Then, in September, we announced that Doug Dale, an American icon, and cornerstone of the school, will be retiring in November and moving back to somewhere close to the North Pole with his wife Dar. They will take over the family farm in northern Minnesota where they both grew up and look forward to being back home, retired. Doug’s retirement is both sad and joyful.

Needless to say, a year like 2025 can take its toll.

So, to circle back to the question,

“What’s the Plan?”

my answer is this: MASW will go on.

Susie and I have been working on a long-term plan to ensure the school thrives for generations to come, carrying forward the same creative spirit, passion, and wholesomeness that define it. To be clear, I’m not retiring. My health is good, I’m not burned out, and the school is not for sale.

But when my staff jokes

that they work at a senior citizens home, and I’m the director, it’s time to take a step back, to move forward.

I still love woodworking and making things,

but for the last 34 years I haven’t had the time; the school gets in the way. I have never been able to take a workshop; I’ve tried but within the first hour, I get called away. I have always wanted to spend more time with our MASW instructors and students but as I move throughout the school, it isn’t to socialize, it’s because I’m on a mission. Between building the schedule, writing the brochure, and teaching 14 weeks a year, the pace has been relentless. Somehow it all gets done, but it’s not sustainable for one person to carry that load forever.

Starting in 2026,

Eric Key will take over as the Director of MASW. He will have an incredible support team of assistants that will include my son-in-law Pat Murrin, Brian Byrne, Tyler Allen, Patrick Steinmetz and Kyle Grider, along with an army of extraordinary volunteers whose dedication humbles me. With this team in place, the school will not only continue, but it will also flourish.

I’m proud of our past,

I’m grateful for the present,

and I’m filled with hope for the future.

This school was built on passion, community, and a love of craft, and that is exactly what will carry it forward. Together, we will write the next chapter of MASW, under a younger (and better looking) generation of leaders.