About Us
A SPECIAL WELCOME MESSAGE
OUR DEDICTATION TO TRAINERS
We offer over 350 products, including more than 100 exclusive offerings. These "Trainers Exclusives" are products that the company has designed, developed and sold because trainers said they needed them. We curate consultant-grade products from around the world and are always on the lookout for exceptional tools that will help make training and learning more innovative, effective, and fun.
TRAINERS WAREHOUSE offers hundreds of effective, innovative, and fun products for trainers and educators across all industries. Established in 1990 and based in Natick, Massachusetts, Trainers Warehouse remains a family-operated and woman-owned business that develops exclusive new products and searches the world for the best tools to help trainers achieve their goals.
Popular products that improve retention and make training more engaging include game show templates and buzzers, icebreaker and team-building games, fidgets and fiddles, debriefing tools, docu-sleeves and signage, and achievement rewards. We are the premier resource of hard-to-find and innovative products for trainers, educators, and facilitators, delivering quality products that bring fun and inspiration into any learning environment.
In 1990, as a physicist, adjunct professor and gadgeteer, Michael Doctoroff left a secure job and began making picture frames full-time for the increasingly popular office cubicles. Convinced the product would be a hit, he sought his wife's blessing and converted a bedroom and basement into an office and warehouse. Office Images, Inc. was born.
One day, amidst the orders for 10 and 25 frames, in came two orders for 500 frames! Mike agreed to sell these volumes if the buyers would tell him how they planned to use them. Both gave the same answer: "My trainers like to distribute their certificates in them." Within months, Doctoroff renamed the company Trainers Warehouse and embarked on a mission to find or create products that would enable trainers to do their job better.
The company's first catalog was a 12-page, blue, black and white edition, with no more than 50 or so unusual office products, including our early versions of the DocU-Pocket. Over the years, the catalog has grown to a 48-page full-color resource that's loaded with helpful Training Tips, by and for trainers. We've also loaded our ecommerce site and blog with tons more resources that will make your training more enjoyable and memorable.
Mike Doctoroff, Chairman and Founder, 1934-2010
Susan Doctoroff Landay, President has been the guiding spirit of Trainers Warehouse for over 25 years. As a business leader and former circus clown--a graduate of Yale, Kellogg, and Clown College--she is truly committed to bringing together work and fun. Whether crunching numbers, strategizing business development, creating new products, or energizing her team, Sue's #1 goal is to make training and learning more interactive, playful, and effective. Sue's WorkSmart blog contains some of the most sought-after compilations of training and learning games on the web.
Before joining her dad at Trainers Warehouse in July of 1997, she had several years consulting and training in the field of negotiation (fun but lots of travel) and before that, a couple of years with a business history consulting company (not fun enough). Early work experiences also included advertising account work and performing as a clown for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Japan (yes, she was in the “clown car”; no, the Japanese weren’t impressed; her coolest thing was walking 7-foot stilts).
Honey Doctoroff (a.k.a. "Mom") was responsible for human resources, office and warehouse management from the moment she joined us in 2000, to her retirement in 2022. Earlier in her career, mom developed and administered a regional art-in-the-workplace program known as “On My Own Time,” which encouraged and celebrated employees’ personal creativity and talent. We still love that tool as a way to bring remote employees together, and celebrate who they are away from work. Honey earned a Bachelors Degree at Simmons College in Boston in 1959, taught elementary school, tutored children and adults as a reading specialist and served as Director of Administrative Services at the JCC of Greater Rochester.
Michael Doctoroff, Founder, was educated at Williams College with BA and MA degrees in Physics. He received an MBA degree from RIT while working at Bausch & Lomb in 1972. For the first 15 years of his career, he served as a practicing physicist, doing research and development primarily in the area of vacuum deposition of thin films for optical and microelectronics purposes. Mike's managerial skills were developed and strengthened while serving as a General Manager at Bausch and Lomb (1970-1977), the President of Balzers Corporation (1977-1981) and the VP of Strategic Planning and Engineering at Tokheim Corporation (1982-1984). Before starting the company, he served as a self-employed consultant (1985-1986). His sense of humor was hard-wired into his genes.
After a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Mike Doctoroff passed away on December 1, 2010. Mike's warmth, creativity, playfulness and intelligence have became the core values of his company. His personality became our brand, which we intend to carry on.
Michael Doctoroff, 1934-2010 Trainers Warehouse founder and chairman Mike Doctoroff passed away on December 1, 2010, after a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).Mike's own warmth, creativity, playfulness and intelligence became the core values of his company. His personality became our brand, which we intend to carry on.He invented dozens of products that help trainers have more fun and communicate more effectively. He wrote many articles about the importance of laughter and smiling.A life-long student and tinkerer, over the years Mike studied woodworking, painting, typing, computer programming, photography, gardening. At age 65, he set out to learn Spanish so he could converse with some of his employees in their own language.
Above all, Mike was committed to communication and connection. He insisted that a live person answer every phone call, including his own: he would not allow his own calls to be screened.I feel blessed to have worked with my dad. In my dozen years at Trainers Warehouse, I had the chance to learn from him, to know him better, and to contribute to his dream of building this business.Going forward, all of us at Trainers Warehouse intend to carry on Mike's mission of helping people learn and laugh -- and connect. * Sue Doctoroff Landay *
Our growth continues to be fueled by the suggestions and requests made by trainers who still have not found their "perfect solution." Please continue to tell us what's missing. We will find it, make it, or brainstorm a solution with you. Your comments on our products and satisfaction with our customer service are encouraged. ~ Susan Doctoroff Landay, President, Trainers Warehouse
