Design and Technical Product Development Leader

Team Leadership | Industrial Design | Project Management | Process Development | Strategy

Design Leadership: 20+ years bringing winning products to market with design experience with manufacturer teams, on retailer Product Design & Development teams, in procurement organizations, and in custom design and build roles.

• Strategic planning: Converted market, trend, consumer, sales insights into successful design strategies.

  • Achieved 45% hit rate on SS27 sampled designs resulting in $5 million in growth for one account.

  • Developed consumer insights gathering process and led multiple projects including a project that shifted Target wall décor quality strategy to align with consumer needs while maintaining low prices.

• Team Development: Nurtured good design conditions through team development, process improvement, and resource management to maintain consistent high-quality customer experience.

  • Built/trained scalable design development process and documentation plan to manage global design and sales team workflow; managing designs from initial concept through sampling and to production.

  • Spearheaded strategies to manage trend research, discovery and insights, and new material development responsibilities after staff reductions; maintaining high level of service to customers.

• Cross-functional Partnership: Drove collaboration with global sourcing, merchants, retailer product design teams, manufacturing, R&D, sales, QA, and marketing partners.

  • Accomplished 50% YOY growth through year-round multi-year collaborative development partnership with a retailer Product Development team in SS26.

• Brand Differentiation: Led platforming and branding strategies.

  • Developed Visual Brand Language and Differentiation Guidelines to drive aesthetic direction, trend alignment and brand differentiation strategy for 9 industry-leading Stove and Fireplace brands.

• Product Standards: Led technical research to set industry-leading quality standards at mass retail.

  • Authored product standards for outdoor products including grilling accessories, boots, gloves, cushions, and gazebos for Target and led patio furniture standards creation for Grand Leisure

Data-driven Industrial and Furniture Design:

• Commercial Success: Designed and developed best sellers in indoor and outdoor furniture, wall décor, grilling, garden, and outdoor accessories, fireplace, fire pit, and stove categories.

  • Led daily account design work for 5 retail accounts including 2 high complexity accounts. Designed and specified concepts for submission to retailer accounts using SolidWorks, KeyShot, and Vizcom. 

  • Invented a patented storage mirror, which ranked 3rd in sales for mirrors when launched in only half the Target chain.  Total of 28 design and 2 utility patents from Target experience.

• Trend Forecasting: Managed trend reporting strategies in Outdoor Living and Hearth industries.

  • Created SS28 trend reports, driving design strategies for all retail accounts, maintaining high level of service to Grand Leisure customers after elimination of dedicated Trend Specialist role.

• Material Development: Managed material library strategies in Outdoor Living and Hearth industries.

  • CMF designer of 2022 ICFA Design Excellence Award-winning Uptown fire table for Outdoor Greatroom.

• Hands on Design: Rapid prototyping.

  • Paper mockups and hand painted panels drove interior panel strategies for Heat & Glo and Majestic.

  • Collaborated in factory to develop in-house interior panel molding and painting capabilities.

• Adaptability: Enthusiasm for learning new categories and fast onboarding into new categories.

  • Designed the Vermont Castings Dauntless stove, which exceeded first year plan by 175%/$5 million.

 Design for manufacturing:

• Experienced woodworker and welder with history working directly with factories on production process improvement and rapid continuous improvement projects.

• Material expertise in cast iron, wood, steel, aluminum, stainless steel, foam, polyester batting, outdoor textiles, PS wood, and plastics, and finishes including powder coats, heat transfer, and stains.

• Manufacturing technique experience in sand cast, welding, injection molding, extrusions, cut and sew, hand finishing of wood, metal, and ceramic fiber panels, and upholstery.

Core competencies:

Product & Concept Design | Value Engineering | Project Execution | Design for Manufacturing | Material Development | Furniture Construction | Product Standards | SolidWorks 3D Modeling | Market Research | Consumer Insights | Trend Forecasting | 2D Design Ideation

Professional Experience

Grand Leisure, Madison, WI | Deqing, China (Remote)

Design Manager - May 2022 to September 2026

Managed 4 US based Furniture Designers in design and development of high value outdoor consumer goods. Collaborated with Chinese and US design, sales, and product teams to design patio furniture, bringing hundreds of designs from concept to production for 16 major mass, club, and specialty retail accounts as B2B and B2C supplier. Partnered with retailer PD and Merchant teams to develop custom and curated designs.

Hearth & Home Technologies, Lakeville, MN                                                 

Industrial Designer II - January 2016 to April 2022

Designed stove, insert, and fireplace concepts grounded in trend and market awareness, delivering SolidWorks models, renderings, and engineering hand offs. Collaborated with Category Directors, Product Managers, engineering teams, and suppliers to create cost effective products designed for manufacturing.

LogicSource, Inc, Best Buy account team located in Minneapolis, MN

Industrial Design Manager - June 2015 to December 2015

Managed relationship with Best Buy Design and Engineering team for fixture Sourcing/Procurement group. 

Target, Minneapolis, MN

Technical Designer II (Industrial Designer + Product Engineer) - August 2010 to March 2015

Indoor Furniture: 2014 to 2015 | Wall Décor & Shelving: 2013 to 2014 | Outdoor Living: 2010 to 2013

Created concepts and product direction for thousands of products per merchant objectives. Collaborated on product development with cross functional team and vendor partners. Partnered with marketing teams on omni-channel quality messaging strategy.

Duff Thury Studio Furniture, Saint Paul, MN

Furniture Designer / Maker - June 2005 to August 2010

Researched production costs, materials, and manufacturing methods, directing and coordinating product fabrication.  Drafted estimates for company owner.  Handcrafted unique one-of-a-kind products.

Education

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Studio Arts: Sculpture, BA Minor: German, Saint Cloud State University, Saint Cloud, MN; Honors: Summa cum laude, Participated in Honors general education courses

Furniture Design Program: Scandinavian Furniture Design and History, Denmark International Studies, Dansk Design Skole, Copenhagen, Denmark