Product Design & Development Leader
Design like a builder.
Lead like a maker.
Build the framework the whole team ends up using.
I’m still learning something new in every role, that’s what keeps my instincts sharp after twenty years.
Who I Am
Fluent in the creative direction and the operational rigor behind it.
Product design and development leader with nearly 20 years across aesthetic direction, go-to-market strategy, global sourcing, and full-lifecycle commercialization in consumer products, soft home, and apparel, grounded in translating real consumer insight into product that wins on shelf.
- Consumer insightRetail partnerships, trade show intelligence, and direct customer engagement inform every product decision.
- ExecutionMulti-year product roadmaps and end-to-end concept-to-shelf ownership.
- FrameworksCustom-built stage-gate processes and NPI business case approval.
- SourcingGlobal supplier management across markets I’ve worked in firsthand.
- ResultsMultimillion-dollar cost and value-engineering savings in every role held.
How I Got Here
A maker since I could hold a needle.
I’ve been a maker since I could hold a needle (sewing and staging fashion shows at eight, redesigning my bedroom before I knew interior design was a career), and my parents and sixth-grade art teacher gave that instinct room to grow into a formal design education. Since then, I’ve been deliberate about the path, working across manufacturing, production, technical development, and design (the roles most creatives avoid) so I’d understand how things are actually made before I designed them, including significant time overseas on factory floors in China, Turkey, Mexico, and the UK. That’s why my designs move through development faster and hit margin more reliably: I design for how it will be built, not just how it will look.
Outside of work, that same instinct extends to anything I’m curious about: upholstery and casegoods restoration through Buck & Doll for furniture construction, footwear for leather, and certifications in project management, leadership, and Lean Six Sigma to give the creative side a structural spine.
The through-line is a refusal to be afraid of failure. What I’ve built, over twenty years, is the ability to stay comfortable being uncomfortable in the moment, which is where the best design decisions actually get made.
How I Lead
Structure and Confidence is how a leader still wins the room.
Read the full leadership philosophyMy job as a Director isn’t to have the best idea in every meeting. It’s to build the conditions (the process, the standards, the trust) that let a talented team consistently produce better work than any one person could alone.
Why La-Z-Boy
I’m looking for a company to grow with for a long time, not just a next stop.
My family has roots in the area, so this isn’t a relocation into the unknown. Stepping into a role with this much history behind it, and this much ambition ahead of it, is exactly the opportunity I’m after.