DRIFIRE'S Management Team

Steven Scheyer
CEO, Optimer Brands

Prior to joining Optimer Brands as CEO, Steven was an Executive in Residence at Sterling Partners, a private equity firm with over $4 billion dollars in assets under management.  At Sterling, Steven was a member of the Board of Directors for Optimer Brands, and worked with a number of Sterling portfolio companies on consumer facing strategies, marketing opportunities and team building needs.

Steven’s experience prior to Sterling includes serving as President & CEO of Ascendia Brands, Inc., a personal care leader whose brand portfolio includes Calgon, Baby Magic and Mr. Bubble. Steven also held positions of progressive responsibility over a ten year period with Newell Rubbermaid, serving as President of the Wal*Mart Division from 2001-2007, with global responsibility for over $1 billion of annual sales, including the Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Graco and Goody brands. Steven’s success in creating a strategic team and successful partnership with Wal*Mart was highlighted in a 2008 Harvard Business School case study.

Steven joined Newell following the sale of his company, Decorel, Inc to Newell.  He subsequently served as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing of Newell’s $450M Intercraft Burnes division, which, prior to its 2004 sale to Cerberus, was the world’s largest picture frame manufacturer and marketer.  From 1999 to early 2001, Steven served as Executive Vice President of starbelly.com, an internet B2B provider of promotional products. As part of the leadership team, Steven helped develop the strategy, drive customer growth and the successful sale of the company.

Steven received his BA from Pitzer College.

Dustin Cohn
Chief Marketing Officer, Optimer Brands

Since joining Optimer Brands, Dustin has led the creation of the DRIFIRE integrated marketing plan aimed at reinventing the FR apparel category and establishing the DRIFIRE brand as the new category leader.  He is responsible for developing the DRIFIRE “Comfortable FR Wear” advertising campaign, leading the new product innovation committee, and has delivered ground breaking distributor marketing support.  Prior to joining Optimer, Dustin was the Director of Marketing for Propel Enhanced Water at PepsiCo.  His responsibilities included advertising development, national promotions, retail/customer marketing, and product/packaging innovation.  In addition, he served as the Director of Gatorade Equity Communications and led U.S. Gatorade advertising, Hispanic marketing, and entertainment marketing for the brand.  Prior to PepsiCo, Dustin was the V.P. Management Director at Element 79 Partners and Foote Cone and Belding, leading the Gatorade advertising account group.  Additional agency experience includes work on the Campbell Soup and Boston Market accounts.  Dustin began his marketing career at PepsiCo in the Pizza Hut division.  He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and successfully completed the Executive Leadership Program at the Harvard Business School.

Shawn Patrick Connor
Executive Vice President, Government and Commercial Sales, DRIFIRE

A long-experienced global military business segment specialist with extensive knowledge of textiles for military apparel systems, Shawn Patrick Connor initially joined DRIFIRE as Vice President, Military Markets, from his previous position as General Manager for the Global Military Business Unit of Nobel Fiber Technologies. While at Nobel Fiber Technologies for three years, where he was recruited to target national accounts and was later named Director of Sales, Shawn helped lead double digit sales growth for the company. Prior to this, he was employed by Donaldson Company, Incorporated, an industry leader in the manufacture of filter media and software, where he was instrumental in the company’s double digit sales growth for eight consecutive years.

Shawn’s experience in high level sales, marketing, and operations positions spans over more than 20 years experience.  During this time, he has consistently led sales increases of at least 30% to 40% for a diverse range of organizations, including Government Access Incorporated, as well as companies in filtration, instrumentation, automotive, pharmaceutical, chemical, semiconductor, and distribution systems sectors.

Shawn earned his degree from the College of Communication at The Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and has been an active member of the American Apparel and Footwear Association for the past eight years.

Robert W. Hines, Jr
Vice President, Product Development, DRIFIRE

Robert W. Hines brings to his role as Vice President of Product Development at DRIFIRE seventeen years of domestic and international experience in textile product development, quality, and manufacturing.  His broad and deep experience in the textile industry have given Rob the opportunity to develop products that are informed by a balanced, first-hand understanding of how to achieve the top quality through securing the best manufacturing and fabric sources, as well as how to identify systems, processes, and technologies that yield maximum new product quality, profitability, and market acceptance.

Prior to joining DRIFIRE, Rob spent six years working at Johnston Textiles, Inc., a $70M diversified fabric manufacturer, where he rose from Technical Manager to Director of Quality, Director of Technical Services, and ultimately to Director of Manufacturing.  In this capacity, Rob was responsible for three manufacturing plants, product development, quality, and the marketing and management of Johnston’s Textest textile testing business. Rob’s experience also includes two years working at Burlington Industries, where he directed the training of 860 technical and salaried weavers and achieved double digit improvements in quality and a six-figure reduction in cost.  His extensive career in textiles also includes six years with Johnston Industries, Inc., a $230M diversified fabric manufacturer, and two years with Pharr Yarns, Inc., a $241M manufacturer and marketer of yarns.

Rob has a Master’s Degree in Textile Technology from the Institute of Textile Technology and a BS Degree in Business from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He is a member of the American Society for Testing and materials International and the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists.