Wade Gease is a Senior AOA certified alpaca judge, judge training instructor, screener, presenter and

international consultant/mediator for the alpaca industry.  He was the acting President of the

 Fiber Cooperative of North America (AFCNA) for many years.

He was also co-owner of LondonDairy Alpacas and gift store from 1997-2016.  

 

He now unveils all of his works in one place at www.TheAlpacaGuy.com with his own

product development, concepts and services.

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For the past two decades, Wade has been honored to be involved with so many different activities in the alpaca world:

screening alpacas for associations, presenting his personal educational seminars, consulting, commentating & coordinating for auctions,

evaluating for private alpaca breeders and leading yearly educational trips to Peru ( email him to get

on his private notification list).  He has been involved with implementing sorting methods, product sourcing and designing.

 

One of Wade's goals is to continually introduce Alpaca into other settings to help educate the American consumer on how wonderful alpaca can be.  Wade was the first to produce a N.A. made alpaca bamboo fabric.  For over two years Wade (Von Giesen) created an upscale fashion line highlighting alpaca fabrics.   Alpaca Couture’s vision was to gain greater attention from a discriminating consumer and help the industry gain greater recognition as an attractive fiber to use.  Fashion shows were presented in Las Vegas, Orange County and San Diego.  The business transitioned into The Alpaca Guy.

 

He has forged ahead in making alpaca materials, designing alpaca products and has created a new wet felting machine for home/farm use to empower ranches to make on the farm products, The Wet Felting Wizard. It has had over 25,000 views on YouTube and has sold as far as the Netherlands, France and South Africa.

 

Wade has earned an Associate’s Degree in Aeronautical Science, a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry & a Masters Degree in Biochemistry. He is also a Camelid Fibre Sorter certified from Olds College Natural Fibre Centre, Canada.  His past has given him experience as a construction worker, certified flight instructor, chemistry instructor, co-owner of a retail gift store and a sale representative for pharmaceutical companies.   He enjoys scuba diving, home improvement projects and anything related to alpaca fiber and product development!

 

 

 

 

 

Wade Gease CV

 

 

PROFESSIONAL HISTORY

Mr. Gease was born and raised in Wisconsin. He attended Gateway Technical College, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

 

Mr. Gease was a certified pilot at age 17. He became a flight instructor for many years while attending a state university for further Science degrees. Furthermore, he earned a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry and continued to achieve a Master’s of Science in Bio-Chemistry.

 

Mr. Gease worked for several pharmaceutical companies as a specialty sales representative for hypertensive, cardiology, esophageal reflux disease, COPD, lipid management and anti-inflammatory medications.

 

Mr. Gease has been traveling to Peru/Bolivia since 2002  developing product, visiting remote alpaca ranches, interviewing processors, has organized and conducted guided tours in Peru for alpaca breeders and has collected information related to alpacas for his clinics and articles.

 

Mr. Gease has successfully designed , engineered and sells a wet felting machine (Wet-Felting Wizard) used to make a variety of products for small farm sustainability.

 

Mr. Gease was the co-owner of LondonDairy Inc.   A mid size alpaca ranch since 1997 utilizing 100% of their fiber for end product use to sell in Alpaca Threads. Its on the farm gift store.

 

Mr. Gease is the owner of The Alpaca Guy, LLC.  Where he offers is services and items he designs and creates for sale.

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS            

 

• Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America (AFCNA) past President

• Alpaca Owners and Association, Inc. (AOA)member

• AOA Certified Senior Judge & Trainer, current

• Judges Advisory Committee (JAC) chair holder

• Alpaca Registry Inc. (ARI) member

• Great Lakes Alpacas Association (GLAA) past  President

 

HIGHER EDUCATION

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• Gateway Technical College; Associates degree in Aeronautical Science

• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; B.S. Chemistry

• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; M.S. Bio-Chemistry

• Published articles: Mössbauer spectroscopy of [Fe2(H2Hbab)2(NMI)2] and [(H2hbamb), (H2Hbach)] ligand substitutions. 2000.

• AOBA (Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association) Judges Training Course

• Olds College University, AB Canada - Certified Camelid Fiber Sorter

 

INDUSTRY CREDENTIALS

 

• AOA (Alpaca Owners Association) Certified Senior Alpaca Judge (2002-Current)

• AOA Senior Judge & Judge Trainer  (2006-Current)

• Natural Fiber Fashion Design

• Certified Camelid Fiber Sorter, Olds College University, AB Canada (2008-Current)

• AFCNA (Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America) Training Consultant (Fiber Sorting) (2009-2014)

• President – AFCNA Board of Director (2011-2014)

• Past affiliate President for GLAA (Great Lakes Alpaca Association) (2006-2009)

• Co-Owner LondonDairy Alpaca (1998-2016)

• International Conference Speaker (2006-Current)

• International Alpaca Clinic Presenter (2000-Current)

• Canadian Presenter ( Emphasis Charts, Fiber Analysis) (2008 & 2009)

• Evaluating Consultant (Alpacas,Herd management, Fleece) (2000-Current)

• Tour Planner & Guide (Peru & Bolivia)   (2005-Current)

• Published Articles:

  •  Alpacas Magazine  - Summer 2008 (Showing)   Spring 2009(Fabric)

  • Show & Tell Magazine – All issues 2007-Current

  • Alpacas Magazine  - Spring 2014/Peru trips - Summer 2015/Wet Felt Machine

• Engineered and Launched the Alpaca Wet Felting Wizard Machine  (2010-Current)

• Launch of Alpaca Couture, A couture fashion line utilizing US made alpaca fabric  (2012-2014)

• Established www.TheAlpacaGuy.com as a Wholesale/Retail Product Developement business (2015-current)

 

 

SEMINARS AND PRESENTATIONS

 

 

HERD EVALUATIONS/ EXPERT WITNESS

Mr. Gease has been asked to perform professional herd evaluations throughout the U.S. & Canada. Defining quality levels, market place validation and breeding suggestions are all discussed. On many occasions Mr. Gease has been retained be an expert witness to help settle litigation cases.

 

 

ALPACA JUDGING ACTIVITIES

 

Mr. Gease has been a judge at many of the major alpaca shows including AOA Nationals (10), International Alpaca Odyssey (4), MAPACA (9) Alpaca Western Extravaganza, Kentucky Classic, MOPACA (8), TxOLAN (3), Alpacapalooza (6),  NorthWest Alpaca Showcase(2), Indiana Alpaca Invitational, ABR Fall Festival (4) AFCNA Continental Fleece Show (5) Switzerland, France, Norway, Germany(2), UK Futurity & Netherlands (2).  Mr. Gease continues to be one of the most contracted AOA certified alpaca judges.