Raymond Clepper

Focus - luxury lighting, furniture, accessories, packaging and manufacturing implementation.
Direct report to the CEO/creative director, member of the executive leadership team.
Management - resource analysis, hiring, mentorship and management of 13+ industrial designers, mechanical engineers, electronics engineers, regulatory engineers, packaging designers, graphic designers and outside contractors.
Responsibilities - NPD/NPI, creative direction, design, development, engineering, certification, project management, sourcing, manufacturer liaison, production support and implementation.
Management and weekly reporting of project status and budgets.
Operations - Utilizing PLM and ERP systems to control, track and report on all aspects of the design/engineering data for production. CAD server management and organization across the organization.
Continuous Improvement- Creation, implementation and management of a company wide continuous Improvement system.
Customers - Working directly with designers, custom and contract customers to maintain overall design intent and budgets expectations.

Focus - consulting for consumer electronics, housewares, packaging, market research, brand strategy, lighting, professional cleaning, licensed novelty, promotional products, deal toys and startups.
Founder of a small boutique design firm with an emphasis on designs that can actually be produced.
Responsibilities - conceptualization, design/engineering solutions, design magic, production packages, managing/mentoring young designers, managing vendors, directing brainstorming session research, consumer insight, product planning, project management, trend forecasting, guiding of true product innovation, color and product graphics, creating pans and leading internal innovation projects.
New business development and client management of expectations, including proposals/contracts.
Successful collaboration with executive leadership, marketing, sales, engineering, manufacturing and outside vendors to validate and execute design driven solutions from concept to production.
Brands: Manfrotto, Polaroid, Motorola, Colgate, Sonos, Kaz, Unger, Litepanels, Vitec, Electrolux, Star Wars, Heineken, Voss and Dos Equis,

Focus - lead designer of global central vacuums, aftermarket and air cleaner categories.
Built the first internal relationships for consumer experience driven designs within the central vacuum category.
Coordination of color, graphics, brand language and product design among numerous divisional offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia for successful global product launches.
Responsibilities - market research, consumer insight, product planning, project management, trend forecasting, guiding of true product innovation, color and product graphics, creating patentable design/engineering solutions, de-sign magic, final product surfacing, managing/mentoring young designers, managing vendors, directing brainstorming sessions and leading internal innovation projects.
Successful collaboration with marketing, sales, market research, engineering, manufacturing, executive management and outside vendors to validate and execute design driven solutions from concept to production.
Brands: Electrolux Eureka, Beam, Kenmore, Sanitaire, Volta, Honeywell, and Zanussi.

Focus - Boutique consultancy contracting for various local agencies.
Management of all business and design aspects of the company.
Responsibilities - new business development, project scope, project proposals, market research, trend forecasting, design magic, vendor management, client relationships, manufacture sourcing and all that jazz.
Coordination and management of clients, freelancers, model makers and manufacturers.
Clients - Atlason, Coco-Cola, Cambridge Silversmiths, Staples, Amron International, Kaz, Futurebrand, One80 Design, Verizon, Smirnoff, G2 Worldwide, Sol-Light LLC, and Ergotech.

Focus - consumer electronics, furniture, housewares, new technology and packaging.
Responsibilities include project definition, proposal development, strategy, trend forecasting, design, market research, management and execution with existing and speculative clients.
Coordination and management of clients, vendors, research, freelancers, interns, internal resources and manufacturing liaison.
Collaborating with a unique team of designers, researchers, engineers, marketing, business development, strategy and manufacturing professionals.
Clients - Itoki, Panasonic, Geek Squad, Haier, Fun, Sanyo, Culinary Institute of America, Scunci, Best Buy, Staples, LG and Herman Miller.

Focus - structural packaging, medical products, consumer products and sport related commercial products.
Project management/team leadership from initial exploration to final production.
Management and coordination of freelancers, outside vendors and interns.
On-site research of manufacturing lines for implementation and optimization of new designs.
Brainstorming and ideation of next generation products for multiple Fortune 500 companies.
Clients - PEPSICO, Johnson & Johnson, Honeywell, Gatorade, Lipton, Tropicana, Perrier, Wrigley’s, Unilever, McNeil and Samsung.

Focus - various brand specific promotional products, decorative home goods and start-up consulting.
Helped develop 3D data and 2D drawings in Solidworks for prototyping and production.
Presentation sketches for brand specific POP displays and duty-free installations.
Sketch exploration and presentation of duty-free retail environments.
Brainstorming for value-added-products for a major alcoholic beverage company.
Clients - P&G, Coca-Cola, Absolut, L’Oreal, Danska, G2 Worldwide and Michael Friedes Design.

Focus - wide range of housewares products.involved in all phases of product development from sketch to final 3D data.
Correspondence with manufacturing in China to resolve production issues.
Foam models and mock-ups for client presentations
Use of Solidworks to develop designs for prototyping and manufacturing.
Clients - Lectrix, Oxford Bath and Home, Copco and