Richard Elder Email & Phone Number

New York City Metropolitan Area

As the Vice President, Creative Director, I reported directly to the President of Herman Miller, and I was responsible for setting and championing a clear vision for the Herman Miller Brand for how we meet our customers with product and brand experiences. I actively partnered with the various Product Categories for Lifestyle and Contract furnishings, External Designers, and Design and Development Teams to provide regular guidance for the creation of Herman Miller products. I also parterned with the Global Marketing and Brand Design teams to ensure all brand experiences were aligned with the brand vision, positioning, and new product introductions.

New York City Metropolitan Area

As the Vice President of Brand Design, I reported directly to the Chief Design Officer and was responsible for building and directing a multi-discipline in-house design function to create consistent Brand experiences across all communication channels from Digital, Print, Facilities, Showrooms and Retail. The role was in partnership with Global Marketing, Sales and Product Development.

New York, United States

As the Vice President, Creative Director of Brand Design, I was responsible for building, managing and directing a team of internal Art Directors, Graphic Designers and external contractors to serve 9 Hotel Portfolio brands: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Le Meridien, W Hotels, Sheraton, Westin, Aloft, Element, Four Points. Our internal team created differentiated individual brand identities, customer experiences and promotional materials in line with the Global Marketing strategies. My team was also responsible for brand expressions at key global industry fairs. In my short tenure at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, I let our tea to fully re-brand 6 of the 9 individual brands.

New York, United States

I initially worked for 9 months as a contract Creative Director leading the design efforts on many event pitch projects. In April 2007 I was hired as the Executive Creative Director for the New York office. In this role I was part of the Leadership Team, and was responsible for building and leading an internal team of multi-discipline creatives to pitch and design event executions for multiple clients in diverse industries.

New York City Metropolitan Area

I was appointed Creative Director for Exetor Brands, a subsidiary of Nike, Inc. Exetor brands was a group of brands focused on the Value Chain market. Brands included Starter, and Shaq. As the Creative Director, I was responsible for seasonal product direction for all categories and genders of Apparel, and brand expressions reflecting the Marketing Strategy. I led Seasonal Design and Trend Analysis presentations to key accounts; primarily WalMart. I built and led an internal team of product designers, and partnered with Design and Branding agencies.

Hong Kong Sar

As the Regional Creative Director of Apparel, I was responsible for the vision and execution of Nike products for the Asia Pacific region. At least 70% of all products for the market were produced by the regional team. I built and led a team of Global Apparel and Graphic designers by setting the seasonal direction for 4 seasons of product annually. My role partnered with Regional Category leaders, and individall Country product managers. In this role, I traveled extensively through the Asia Pacific region to gain an understanding of market needs and consumer preferences.

Hilversum, The Netherlands

The Regional Design Director for Brand Design was the first design-led role to exist in-market for the Nike Brand. From the ground-up, I built and managed a multi-discipline design team that included Graphic Design, Environmental Design, Film and Video and Design Operations. The first 2 years of the role was within the Retail Marketing team, and specifically the execution of an aggressive roll-out of Nike concept shops within Retailer partners across the region. Upon completion, my role expanded to build and lead a design team to express the Nike brand to consumers across all platforms that reflected the Regional Marketing strategy. A large part of the role was to create branded environments and seasonal sales meeting direction to inform and inspire the Regional Sales team.

Beaverton, Oregon, United States

I was hired as a designer on a newly-created team at Nike called Environmental Design. The primary focus of this team was to create 3D built environments expressing the brand to the trade and to consumers. This is the team that created the first Niketown concept, a first for the industry, and a template for the Retail world. The first store opened in Portland, Oregon. My role was to design various retail signage and displays focused on new products, innovation and the Archives. I also designed many custom furniture pieces for the stores. After Portland came multiple Niketown stores on an aggressive schedule. I also designed many displays for the various buildings in the new Campus, and a yearly trade show expression that set the bar higher year on year for Nike. Through my work on Niketowns, trade shows, and shop-in-shop concepts, I was promoted through the years to the role of Design Director.

Beaverton, Oregon, United States

I began my career at Nike as a Graphic Designer for t-shirts and textile prints and patterns. I created many designs each season for multiple sports categories.