James Sheppard, CEO & Co-Founder
James is an entrepreneur committed to being part of the solution, not part of the problem. He has led the formation and growth of Vetrazzo since first falling in love with the product in 2005. Prior to Vetrazzo, James managed sales for a mid-sized utility software company later sold to Oracle Corp. Preceding this, he spearheaded the development of a number of commercial shopping centers for national tenants such as Starbucks, McDonald's and Blockbuster Video. He holds a degree in Psychology from the University of Alberta in Canada.
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Olivia Teter, Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder
Olivia is a professional product designer with over 17 years experience. She has developed products for large mass-merchandise retailers such as Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Target and Wal-Mart. Olivia leads the design and development of Vetrazzo for expansion and application in markets such as furnishings, garden products and home accessories. Olivia is a founding member and the acting President of the National Green Chamber of Commerce. She received her degree in Art History from UC Berkeley.
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Jeff Gustafson, CFO & Co-Founder
Jeff was previously a Vice President in Investment Banking at JP Morgan, where he completed public and private transactions for over 50 companies. Prior to this, Jeff was a financial consultant with Coopers & Lybrand. He received a BA from UCLA and an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business and is a CPA. Jeff oversees all financial, legal and human resource matters of the business as well as collaborates with the management team on business strategy, leveraging his 15 years of experience in funding and advising entrepreneurial companies.
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Bob Paradiso, VP of Sales
Bob is a countertop industry veteran, having spent his 25-year career building distribution channels for industry leaders such as CaesarStone and Formica. Most recently VP of Sales at CaesarStone, Bob was instrumental in growing the Quartz market category into a dominant segment of the countertop market. Bob grew CaesarStone into the Quartz category leader in five years, making him ideally suited to lead the continued expansion of Vetrazzo's national sales and distribution channels. Bob holds a BA from Albright College and an MBA from JFK University.
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John Sabol, VP of Manufacturing
John is a manufacturing industry veteran, having spent 25 years building and managing plants for three of the nation's four fiberglass manufacturers including Knauf - Shasta Lake. With his extensive knowledge of recycled glass (used heavily in the production of fiberglass) and his expertise in building new plants, John is ideally suited to expand Vetrazzo's production into new markets across the country. John holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Youngstown State University and a Master's degree in Management from Indiana Wesleyan University.
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Karen Righthand, VP of Marketing
Karen is an avid outdoor activist and former Director of Marketing at K2 Sports where she built the category of snowshoeing in the U.S. to six million participants. Karen holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry from California State University - Sacramento. Karen plays a leadership role in numerous environmental non-profits, including Bay Area Wilderness Training.
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