Our Team
Alie, Office Admin and A/R Assistant
Since Alie arrived at Compendium, she’s launched whole-heartedly into her philosophy of living every moment. She’s trying new things, staying open-minded, and seeking adventure in the everyday. She’s finding new communities for herself, and even joined the kickball team, where her cheering, bunting, and fielding skills proved her loyalty and enthusiasm. Even with a sprained ankle. Alie is currently working towards a degree—a pursuit that keeps her busy, but stokes her passion for language, music, and the relationships between people. She spends a lot of time exploring the city she loves with the people she calls home. As she discovered her first week in Seattle, golden gardens on a summer evening is the perfect place for some good lattes and great conversation that last long into the night.
Andrea, Warehouse Supervisor
Andrea wrings every last drop of sunshine from the rare bright days Seattle has to offer. She plays on two softball teams, loves to plan camping trips around the hills and forests of the northwest, and takes full advantage of the Stillaguamish river that runs right through her backyard. Evenings, weekends, and free hours are spent with her sister and nephew—they’ll pull some old inner tubes down to the water and spend the afternoon drifting and lazing in the heat. Andrea’s a lover of live music and a glass artist who’d like to go back to school someday to pursue glass art more fully. And while she’s never been on a plane, she’s planning her first flight to Puerto Rico with a friend. Fresh coconut, golden sunsets, and lots of time on the beach sound just right.
Carin, Sales Director
It takes a certain kind of spontaneity to move to the Philippines with your husband and three children, but that’s just the kind of spirit Carin’s got. She and her family just returned from a year on the tropical islands, where she served as a grade 1 teacher and school principal, snorkeled among giant clam shells, cliff-jumped into bat-filled caves, and marveled with her family at the beautiful sunsets they named ‘mango-colored skies.’ But that’s not the first time she had a remarkable experience overseas—her first international trip found her accidentally locked in a Parisian bathroom, and an excursion to the Greek islands led to several chance encounters with a handsome fellow traveler who later became her husband. Lately, Carin and her family are re-adjusting to life in the Pacific Northwest in the quirky but charming house they call home.
Carol Anne, Production Manager
If you just heard a loud snort, most likely you’re within earshot of Carol Anne. “If you’re not going to snort, why even laugh?” she says. Tasked with scheduling our products for production, she’s also our birthday cake baker and the Cinco de Mayo Chairwoman-for-Life. As a former prom queen and cheerleader, it’s no wonder that she looks best in sequins and taffeta. Her love of public transportation comes second to her big love: Moose, her neighbor’s dog. When the two combine when Moose goes to work with his mom, Carol Anne comes in glowing with the latest, “Guess what Moose did” stories. Only one person can beat the place in her heart that she carries for Moose and that’s her greatest love: her fighter pilot son, Chris.
Dan, Founder and Chief Copy Writer
Dan grew up in the Italian neighborhood on lower Queen Anne in the days of Italian gardens filled with tomatoes, beans and fig trees. Rather than getting candy on Halloween, his neighbors handed out hard-boiled eggs, and salami with cheese. You’d think with such strong cultural ties he’d speak Italian like a native, but even after several visits to the old country, no one in his family’s northern Italian village can understand him. Recently, he moved across the street from the zoo and has lions, tigers and peacocks serving as his early morning wake up call. Being in Seattle again means that Dan is also closer to his large extended family, which is great for him because family is everything to him. And that’s great for us because he sees us all as his family, too.
Diane, Controller
Open-minded and curious, Diane is always in search of expanding her horizons. Nutrition? Organic vegetables? Meditation? She’ll try it all in the name of a healthier lifestyle. It’s the thing she does to combat her love of chocolate. She never met a piece she didn’t like, even though she tries to drown out its call with the use of her Zen-like fountain and green plants. Her love for it extends to her favorite question: “Would you rather have chocolate or vanilla?” It’s a question reminding us that we all get to make choices. Her uppermost choices? Time with her beloved dog Zoe, her adorable granddaughter, and her adoring daughter, all of whom light up Diane’s life in ways that chocolate never can.
Heidi, Sales & Marketing
Some people are born with Chutzpah, and Heidi is definitely one of them. She’s hip. She’s trendy. She’s detail-oriented and great at servicing our customers. She is not, however, shy! Just one of the many reasons our reps, our wholesales customers and her co-workers so enjoy her. Heidi, who was raised in a small town in Washington state, has spent time traveling the world and living full-time in Hawaii, and learned enough to know that the simplest things in life are the most important: friends, foamy lattes and a pair of well-worn jeans (“always jeans” she says).
Heidi, Designer
Idyllic Sarasota is Heidi’s childhood city: a place of picnics on the shore, lavish Easter egg hunts, and late-night conversations long after most everyone else had gone to bed. Sarasota is also where Heidi went to art school, and where she met the man who would one day become her husband—she and Jose took each other’s hands on the beach one night, and haven’t let go of each other since. They grew close side-by-side in the design studio, working until they were bleary-eyed, and propping themselves up with runs to Taco Bell. Now they live across the street from Heidi’s sister, and spend their time up on the roof, cooking arepas (Jose’s specialty) and hosting friends and family. If they’re not catching a train to Portland for the weekend, you can find them close to home, with their two marmalade cats for company.
Jason, Manager of Logistics & Fulfillment
Jason is the key reason that Compendium has developed such a loyal following from our wholesale customers, and why we’ve been able to develop a turnkey shipping and warehouse operation that is nearly unrivaled in the gift industry. Jason is patient, hard-working and quiet . . . except when he’s yelling wildly for his beloved Seattle Seahawks! Jason is very close with his Mom, his sister and his 3-year-old niece, Savannah, with whom he spends much of his free time.
Jessica, Designer
When Jessica’s husband Tom met her at the Rhode Island School of Design, it was love at first sight. And quite frankly, you couldn’t meet a more compatible pair. From making curry together to Jessica’s fear of spiders and Tom’s ability to fling them away as if they were never there, these newlyweds were made for each other. When she’s not creating her delicate and whimsical mixed-media illustrations full of birds, people and animals for our newest products, Jessica and Tom are creating music together. She’s the lead singer in their fake band, the Star Studlies, and his tone deafness doesn’t get in the way of Tom’s playing all the instruments. It’s one way of passing the rainy days away, a key element that Tom “forgot” to mention as they were moving back to his native state. Ahem.
Jim, COO/CFO
While most accountants get pegged as being nerdy and solely number-driven, Jim is a hands-on improvement specialist. Whether it’s inventory processes or production schedules or kids’ bikes, he loves to figure out how to fix it. Mischievous and generous, Jim also has one of those under-the-radar senses of humor that make us all say, “Did you just say what we think you said?” While we appreciate his ability to mimic houseflies in meetings, we especially love that he’s enthusiastically getting products in and out the door. When he’s not working on cash flows, he’s rounding up his lovely wife and three kids to head down to their favorite family getaway in Cannon Beach, or to fish for trout, or plant a new garden or Japanese maple tree.
Kirsten, Wholesale Channel Sales Coordinator
Kirsten is our contact with the outside world. Especially with our reps. Lively, enthusiastic and amazingly talented with styling product shots, she’s brought enormous energy through the walkways and corridors of Compendium. Whenever we can’t find her at her desk talking with a rep, we know to holler for her outside. She loves it out there. It doesn’t matter if she’s snowboarding, boating, or waiting to board the next plane to anyplace warm, she’s up for the adventure. In fact, getting stung by a jelly fish in Mexico didn’t even faze her – it was an opportunity to use her high school Spanish. Along for the ride on her adventures is her husband Garrett. They met in their human anatomy class and she knew he was the one for her when he won “Most Marriageable.” It was his sense of fun and his willingness to do crazy stuff that won her heart.
Kobi, President & CEO
Family is a big part of Kobi’s life. He can often be found covered in monkey stickers from his daughter Shale, or flying his son Ever in the air to get him to laugh. Laughter is a critical element in his life—to the point of chasing his wife around the house in a tickle fest. Here at Compendium, he often gets us all to do a double-take with his dry sense of humor and quick wit. What also makes us laugh is when he’s trying to get his heels on the ground when showing off his latest passion: yoga. He owes his stubborn hamstrings to his years of playing soccer, something that led to playing in an NCAA championship and his inclusion to the SDSU Hall of Fame. Now, though, he’s happy to continue working on his bungas, exploring the best restaurants in Seattle, and spending time with the loves of his life—his family.
Liz, National Sales Account Manager
It’s not often that there’s a serious kickball player in your ranks. Trust us, you won’t find too many people who are more privy to the secrets, strategies and nuances of the game than Liz, the Underdog Sports league catcher. She can punt the ball like nobody’s business. A former midfield soccer player, you’ll still find her playing the sidelines on occasion. And when she’s not punting or sidelining, she’s fulfilling her love of buying color-accented shoes and heading off to watch every Cougar football game of the season (even though she didn’t even attend Washington State University). You’ll also always catch her playing with her son Kellan. Known as “Little Peanut” and “Noodle,” it’s no secret to anyone that she loves him hugely.
Melissa, Sales & Marketing
Little Miss Millie-Sue-Who comes from a big, close-knit family of movie-goers. Every Friday night when she was growing up, they’d drag mattresses into the living room for a homegrown theatre and slumber party, complete with tubs of popcorn. These days, she lives with her sister and brother, and spends a lot of time with her nephews and niece. On weekends, they all head out to Sounders games, and holidays guarantee a crowd of at least twenty. Melissa is also an avid baker (constantly refining her recipe for the perfect macaroni and cheese), and a true fan of Shakespeare—especially A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Lately, her Kindle follows her everywhere. Free time is the perfect excuse to get herself back into the day’s classic of choice.
Meredith, Managing Editor
Meredith has a true love of the woods, the ocean, and the salt marshes in between. She moved around a lot before settling on the west coast, and is still a true lover of spontaneous, solo travel. Anyplace that’s bike-able is fair game, especially if there are coastlines, open fields, or forests involved. She’s always been a reader and a writer, and her love for the written word has grown to encompass bookbinding and letterpress as well. On weekends when the weather is good, she’ll sit at the local farmers’ market with an old manual typewriter and write poetry on demand for passersby.
Michael, Vice President of Sales & Marketing
Michael makes constant analogies to running and track, which is only fitting as they are some of the many things he’s passionate about. Other things include his Yanni CD collection (no kidding), dressing like a pirate, and basketball. In fact, he longed to play the sport but only grew to the height of a point guard. Good thing for us, since in his Compendium role he’s constantly on the go between gift shows, meetings and lunchtime runs. A firm believer that people should be passionate about what they do for a living, he’s most deeply passionate about his wife and three children.
Renée, Director of National Accounts
Renée’s big-hearted laughter might be the first clue that she’s from Missoula, Montana, where the skies are wide and the spaces are open. She grew up rafting, skiing, camping, and exploring the old ghost towns of the forgotten west. And when she moved out to Seattle for a job, it was an old friend from Montana who set her up on a blind date (right here in Fremont) with the man who would later become her husband. She walked into the restaurant, caught his gaze, and knew right away. By the time he proposed, on the longest wooden porch in the world, he’d been the love of her life for a while. These days, they have big plans to continue exploring the world, and have become certified sailors in the hopes that they might, someday, sail off together.
Sarah, Designer
One night Sarah went out dancing and was whipped around the dance floor by an experienced salsa dancer. She’d never had so much fun – she was hooked and immediately signed up for lessons. Throughout her life she’s been hooked by a number of things. As a kid, she collected a ton of Breyer horses, those plastic horses that look real, until her parents finally gave in and let her take riding lessons. They never saw her again. But Lucky Tattoo, Jam Master J and Mad Madame Min all had the pleasure of being part of Sarah’s lifelong love of riding. Another lifelong love? Thanks to her dad’s painting, she was inspired for a career in graphic design and illustration. It’s remained something she’s loved all these years later.
Sheila, Project Manager
This woman loves a microphone. And while we haven’t yet purchased the office karaoke machine, she promises to be the first to try it out. Hailing from New York, Sheila is a lover of travel, a theater and arts nut, and a connoisseur of fine French dining. She’s lived the big city life in Chicago and Manhattan (where she first heard her future husband’s voice while on a phone line at the offices of The New Yorker magazine). They were married at the Rainbow Room. And when she and her husband had their daughter Sydney in 1997, it didn’t crimp their style—they brought her along on their globetrotting adventures. Although Seattle’s a quieter city, Sheila’s rising to new challenges—like learning how to drive, and tackling Compendium’s organizational and trafficking challenges with enthusiasm and persistence.
Steve, Designer
Originally Steve wanted to be an architect, which explains why his design is generally more technical in nature than in his words, “artsy-fartsy.” He has been with Compendium since some of our earliest days. In fact, he can remember when he was still a technical illustrator for Boeing by day and moonlighting for us until the wee hours of the night. He’d fall asleep standing up or take a long lunchtime nap in his car. He’s pretty thankful now, though, that those days are long gone. Now he has the time to devote to his community, his friends, and most importantly to his wife Janet and their four children. If you get a chance, ask him why his kids all call him “Steamroller.”
Tote, Sales & Marketing
Whenever we need something done around here, from building shelves, managing sales accounts, setting up computers or being the go-to guy for our corporate customers, Tote is the one we call. He has been for the last 15 years. Until his body gave out on him, Tote played soccer, soccer, soccer when he wasn’t here. Wanting to show those young whippersnappers on the pitch how the game was truly played, Tote pulled his hamstring. His limping doesn’t prevent us from asking him when his next sushi night might be. He makes an amazing “House Sushi Roll” with salmon eggs, flying fish eggs and quail eggs. It’s something that all his friends and family clamor for, including his longtime soccer-playing wife and two adorable (potential soccer-playing) sons.
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