Occupation: “Vice president, Wittus – Fire by Design.”

Special Interests/Hobbies: “Tennis, traveling, bridge and, most of all, baking cookies, playing Candy Crush, and jumping on the trampoline with our five-year-old grandson.”

Problems/Issues Facing the Hearth Industry: “Regulations, regulations, regulations! It’s now much more complicated and expensive to meet the new laws and maintain wood-burning products. Barriers of entry are high, especially for smaller companies. There should be exception rulings for ‘boutique’ products (similar to the craft beer industry). 

“Also, there are diminishing returns with restrictive pollution requirements. It costs more to achieve the results (e.g. catalysts), and it will create abuse and added pollution from misuse. Burning wood should be a good thing!”

Key Trends in the Hearth Industry Today: “Contemporary, contemporary, contemporary! Slowly but surely that is where the industry is going. People spend time at home and want ‘warm furniture’ to complement and heighten their living experience.”

Forecast for Your Hearth Product Sales in 2016: “Up, up, up! This is a critical year for us since we are working on adding and changing some of our products, but we are cautiously optimistic.”

Years Reading Hearth & Home: “Since birth (not mine) of Wood ’n Energy (now Hearth & Home) in 1980.”

Reasons for Reading Hearth & Home: “Hearth & Home not only gives us a good pulse and ‘perspective’ on the industry, but it gives credibility to our philosophy as well as ideas for implementing our business concepts.

“We also like the fact that the magazine is read by builders, architects and designers, many of which are our clients. In addition, we have promoted it to our European vendor partners to help them get a better understanding of the American market.” 

Article(s) Ideas: “An article about the European hearth market – it’s suffering – why and what manufacturers are trying to do about it.”