VP Woodworking LLC

NJ

★ 5 (22 reviews)

4441 Leadership Jeff Stange, Chief Executive Officer Jeff is a founding partner and CEO. His 35 years of experience go back to his college days when he built things for beer money. During his short retirement after selling Architectural Arts in 2017, Jeff filled his days with hunting, fishing, naps, and Netflix. The remainder of his attention was directed towards his two lovely children and wife of 30 years. Now that he has bought Architectural Arts back, he is slowly adjusting to the regimen with the help of a strong management team along with the beer fridge and blanket hidden under his desk. Email: [email protected] Phone: 515-564-1834 Rick Blackford, Partner, Vice President of Sales and Estimating Rick has more than 20 years of experience in commercial millwork and construction, focusing on project management and later estimating. Rick leads our sales and estimating team and enjoys working with contractors and owners to form partnerships on high-quality projects. He has been known to create multi-million dollar estimates by merely glancing at the plans (or at least he’s occasionally been accused of it…). In his spare time, Rick rides, sometimes races, and occasionally crashes mountain bikes. Email: [email protected] Phone: 515-564-1841 Jennifer Braafhart, Director of Human Resources Jennifer manages our human resources stuff and attempts to keep everyone coloring within the lines. This tough task at AA requires the combined skillsets of a mother, grade school teacher and Dr Phil. Jennifer started college at the University of Northern Iowa, graduated from Iowa State University and only roots for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. This helps her relate to all Iowans. Jennifer’s greatest enjoyment is hanging out with her husband and three grown children as well as spending time with family and friends. Her new empty nester status should also allow her more time on the golf course and cheering for the Hawks. Email: [email protected] Phone: 515-564-1853 Keith Brodka, Production Manager - Des Moines Keith gave up a Navy career (he is scared of water) to join Architectural Arts in 1998 as a craftsperson. Over the years, he put himself through college and eventually ended up in the office as a Project Manager. He is now overseeing our Des Moines production facility where he gets to deal with the challenges of both humans and machines. Keith loves spending his free time with his hat collection, his wife Sara, their four children, and grandchildren. Despite years of pressure from the family, he has never put in that swimming pool he always promised. Email: [email protected] Phone: 515-564-1838 Aaron Brody, Partner, Vice President of Project Management Aaron joined Architectural Arts after graduating from the University of Iowa in 2007. Lacking maturity and talent, Aaron’s father, a good friend, begged us to give his poor boy a job. Since then, Aaron has been carefully molded into the perfect VP of Project Management. Aaron rallies the project managers, deals with hundreds of customers and has his fingers in almost every project. He is definitely the one to call should you feel the need to yell at someone. When Aaron goes missing, we can usually find him on the golf course. Email: [email protected] Phone: 515-564-1863 Michael Glaser, Partner, Vice President of Design Engineering Michael has 16 years of woodworking/millwork experience. He somehow turned his “Fine Arts” degree from Iowa State University into an engineering career. Most people still notice a little extra flare in his engineering drawings. He is married to a wonderful middle school teacher, and they spend most of their time figuring out how to parent their two young daughters. Michael enjoys a weekend round of golf, Cyclone basketball and football, and redoing their home one room at a time. Email: [email protected] Phone: 515-564-1859 Alison Hackbarth, Chief Financial Officer Alison does a terrific job of leading her team as they count and invest the pennies that flow in and out of Architectural Arts. She has found many pennies, picked them up, and all day long had good luck. She also monitors the coins in the swear jar, though most of them come from her. She earned her accounting degree locally from Drake University and has been practicing her accounting and management skills for the 25 years. Alison finds that the mothering skills she uses to guide her three boys and husband, Hal, come in handy when dealing with Jeff. Email: [email protected] Phone: 515-564-1840 Heath Householder, Partner, General Manager – Emmetsburg Heath manages Architectural Arts’ Emmetsburg plant which we refer to, affectionately, as “North.” We do this because we have trouble spelling “Emmetsburg” and because, well, it is closer to the North Pole. Heath has managed this plant since we took it over in 2008. Heath lives a stone’s throw away from the plant which makes it easy for his wife Liz, one daughter and two sons to come visit him when they want to see him. When he does get out of the building, he’s a motocross enthusiast, a hunter, fisherman and kids’ sports fan. Email: [email protected] Phone: 515-564-1880 Des Moines 2200 East Ovid Des Moines, IA 50313-4747 Phone: 515.265.4441 Fax: 515.263.0623 Emmetsburg 1201 Main Street Emmetsburg, IA 50536 Giving Back © 2024 Architectural Arts, Inc.

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