Rich Malachy is a born and raised New Jersey native, hailing from a peninsula right outside Manhattan called, Bayonne. (A true Jersey Boy to his core!) He grew up in his family business, Malachy Parts & Service, who are the leaders in Commercial Food Equipment Repairs, Installations & Maintenance including refrigeration and warewashing equipment. Alongside his father who started and built the business throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s, Rich learned the ins and outs of running a food equipment service company. Rich has held every position in the company over the years from stocking parts on shelves, to breaking down crates and boxes in the warehouse, performing installs and service related jobs, the billing department, and finally parts manager and service manager where he gained so much knowledge on the operational side. Today, he is the CCO aka the Chief Care Officer here at Malachy Parts and Service as they have grown to over 30 employees and expanding to new markets.
Inspired to put a spotlight on the food equipment industry, Rich Malachy set out to build a community to get loud and active with him through the power of digital! The Food Equipment Digital Disruptors was born and its main purpose was to create an impact across all channels of the industry. FEDD NATION, as it is now widely known, serves to bring awareness to the trades, inspire the community, connect people that may have never had the chance to meet or interact, educate and create opportunities. Through FEDDCon, a one of a kind conference focused on digital branding for an entire industry, Rich Malachy believes all of those purposes can be combined to impact change for the greater good.
With his sights set on this new decade, he believes digital branding will not only be a way to solidify his own legacy for his team, employees and family but for the entire industry. Rich is a teacher, a coach, a mentor, a friend, a disruptor, a brother, a son, an uncle and these are the things that he would tell you are his Why’s.
Rich Malachy knows before you start your digital branding journey, you need to find your Why, his 2 favorite Why’s to date are his nephews Carson and Cullen, who he wants to ensure they are proud of the legacy he one day will leave behind.
Taz began his random professional journey in the mid 90’s being fresh off the farm and looking for adventure. During college Taz earned an internship with a local news affiliate KSFM 5, which turned into a five-year career working with CBS, ABC, CNN, and Fox Sports as a Photojournalist.
As does with many in the media burn out forced Taz to question his career and with a baby girl on the way he happened upon his twenty-year run with Walmart Stores. Starting with overnight programming of energy management systems he happened upon the food equipment industry and all the passion and craziness that comes with it. Being the training manager for that team and working with disaster response for the World’s largest retailer he honed his skills with vendor management. Promoted to Trade manager in 2014 Taz began working with the Food Equipment team managing well over 4200 kitchens and their equipment needs.
Taz is currently working from home, while managing additive manufacturing and special analytics for FM Trade Team. Enjoying learning from others and helping others find answers has developed into his get it done mentality and knowledge base across several trade skills.
Finding a unique path, well for attention basically, Taz took to social media in 2020 to start to share stories and knowledge with anyone that would listen. His love of helping and serving drives the need to be visible and loud about it. Partnering with different groups across the country he now loves helping any size business with any knowledge that he can.
Residing in Arkansas Taz has made his home here over the last 20 plus years with his Wife Alexa and their Children. Taz enjoys reading and watching any sci-fi content as well as working on his lackluster skills on the guitar and banjo. His favorite hobbies include going to distant places with his family, as well as stargazing and writing.
Josh Zolin is the CEO of Windy City Equipment Service (WCE), a leading commercial facilities maintenance company specializing in HVAC, Refrigeration, and Kitchen Equipment. Josh began his journey in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he grew up on a farm that was later converted into a school for aspiring film industry stunt performers. From a young age he was rolling cars, setting himself on fire, and jumping from five-story buildings.
After high school he pursued the family stunt business in Hollywood, California before realizing his entrepreneurial dream. Josh then set his sights for sunny Arizona, to work alongside his dad as a commercial kitchen equipment technician. Over the years he climbed the ranks to grow WCE from two employees working out of a garage, to a multi-million-dollar corporation operating four branches in three states (as of 2020). As a direct result of Josh’s innovative leadership, WCE has received Inc Magazine’s “Inc 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America” honors for three years in a row (2018, 2019, 2020). In complement to his hands-on contribution to WCE, Josh is the published author of Blue is the New White, an eye-opening book which focuses on shattering misperceptions of skilled trades. Donated copies of this best-selling work can be found in 50+ high schools across the country. To further support the necessity of the skilled trades, Josh has partnered with Skills USA; striving to assist in the development of America’s future skilled workforce. In addition to business ownership and real estate investing, Josh’s professional portfolio also includes public speaking. As a respected RFMA member, he is a repeat speaker at their annual conference, among other well-known education and industry conferences. He is also the host of the Blue is the New White podcast, exploring the industrial journeys of successful tradespeople from around the globe.
Josh is constantly fine-tuning his craft as a CEO, but spends his precious free time with his wife and two daughters in Gilbert, AZ. He is an Avid reader, die-hard Chicago Bears fan, and selftaught guitarist although he will not be releasing an album anytime soon
Region Leaders
Meet Your Region Leader
Rich Malachy is a born and raised New Jersey native, hailing from a peninsula right outside Manhattan called, Bayonne. (A true Jersey Boy to his core!) He grew up in his family business, Malachy Parts & Service, who are the leaders in Commercial Food Equipment Repairs, Installations & Maintenance including refrigeration and warewashing equipment. Alongside his father who started and built the business throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s, Rich learned the ins and outs of running a food equipment service company. Rich has held every position in the company over the years from stocking parts on shelves, to breaking down crates and boxes in the warehouse, performing installs and service related jobs, the billing department, and finally parts manager and service manager where he gained so much knowledge on the operational side. Today, he is the CCO aka the Chief Care Officer here at Malachy Parts and Service as they have grown to over 30 employees and expanding to new markets.
Inspired to put a spotlight on the food equipment industry, Rich Malachy set out to build a community to get loud and active with him through the power of digital! The Food Equipment Digital Disruptors was born and its main purpose was to create an impact across all channels of the industry. FEDD NATION, as it is now widely known, serves to bring awareness to the trades, inspire the community, connect people that may have never had the chance to meet or interact, educate and create
opportunities. Through FEDDCon, a one of a kind conference focused on digital branding for an entire industry, Rich Malachy believes all of those purposes can be combined to impact change for the greater good.
With his sights set on this new decade, he believes digital branding will not only be a way to solidify his own legacy for his team, employees and family but for the entire industry. Rich is a teacher, a coach, a mentor, a friend, a disruptor, a brother, a son, an uncle and these are the things that he would tell you are his Why’s.
Rich Malachy knows before you start your digital branding journey, you need to find your Why, his 2 favorite Why’s to date are his nephews Carson and Cullen, who he wants to ensure they are proud of the legacy he one day will leave behind.
Social Media: Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram | TikTok
Taz began his random professional journey in the mid 90’s being fresh off the farm and looking for adventure. During college Taz earned an internship with a local news affiliate KSFM 5, which turned into a five-year career working with CBS, ABC, CNN, and Fox Sports as a Photojournalist.
As does with many in the media burn out forced Taz to question his career and with a baby girl on the way he happened upon his twenty-year run with Walmart Stores. Starting with overnight programming of energy management systems he happened upon the food equipment industry and all the passion and craziness that comes with it. Being the training manager for that team and working with disaster response for the World’s largest retailer he honed his skills with vendor management. Promoted to Trade manager in 2014 Taz began working with the Food Equipment team managing well over 4200 kitchens and their equipment needs.
Taz is currently working from home, while managing additive manufacturing and special analytics for FM Trade Team. Enjoying learning from others and helping others find answers has developed into his get it done mentality and knowledge base across several trade skills.
Finding a unique path, well for attention basically, Taz took to social media in 2020 to start to share stories and knowledge with anyone that would listen. His love of helping and serving drives the need to be visible and loud about it. Partnering with different groups across the country he now loves helping any size business with any knowledge that he can.
Residing in Arkansas Taz has made his home here over the last 20 plus years with his Wife Alexa and their Children. Taz enjoys reading and watching any sci-fi content as well as working on his lackluster skills on the guitar and banjo. His favorite hobbies include going to distant places with his family, as well as stargazing and writing.
Social Media: Facebook | LinkedIn
Josh Zolin is the CEO of Windy City Equipment Service (WCE), a leading commercial facilities maintenance company specializing in HVAC, Refrigeration, and Kitchen Equipment. Josh began his journey in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he grew up on a farm that was later converted into a school for aspiring film industry stunt performers. From a young age he was rolling cars, setting himself on fire, and jumping from five-story buildings.
After high school he pursued the family stunt business in Hollywood, California before realizing his entrepreneurial dream. Josh then set his sights for sunny Arizona, to work alongside his dad as a commercial kitchen equipment technician. Over the years he climbed the ranks to grow WCE from two employees working out of a garage, to a multi-million-dollar corporation operating four branches in three states (as of 2020). As a direct result of Josh’s innovative leadership, WCE has received Inc Magazine’s “Inc 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America” honors for three years in a row (2018, 2019, 2020). In complement to his hands-on contribution to WCE, Josh is the published author of Blue is the New White, an eye-opening book which focuses on shattering misperceptions of skilled trades. Donated copies of this best-selling work can be found in 50+ high schools across the country. To further support the necessity of the skilled trades, Josh has partnered with Skills USA; striving to assist in the development of America’s future skilled workforce. In addition to business ownership and real estate investing, Josh’s professional portfolio also includes public speaking. As a respected RFMA member, he is a repeat speaker at their annual conference, among other well-known education and industry conferences. He is also the host of the Blue is the New White podcast, exploring the industrial journeys of successful tradespeople from around the globe.
Josh is constantly fine-tuning his craft as a CEO, but spends his precious free time with his wife and two daughters in Gilbert, AZ. He is an Avid reader, die-hard Chicago Bears fan, and selftaught guitarist although he will not be releasing an album anytime soon
Social Media: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter