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 more than $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 10 year period with Newell Rubbermaid, serving as President of the Wal*Mart Division from 2001 to 2007, with global responsibility for more than $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 starkly.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.

Patrick J. Gainer
Chief Financial Officer

Patrick Gainer joined Optimer Brands as Chief Financial Officer in 2010.  His responsibilities include finance and all operational and supply chain activities.  Prior to joining Optimer, Patrick led Heartland Industrials Inc., where he used his finance and operating skills to identify, acquire, and grow middle market companies with private equity partners.

Before leading Heartland, Patrick had a 20+ year a career at Motorola, Inc., a $30 billion global technology leader.  His experience includes roles as CFO, VP of Finance, and Division Controller for global businesses in mature, emerging, and start-up environments.  Over his last four years at Motorola, Patrick served as the Vice President and CFO for the Automotive Group, where he led a global restructuring that yielded a profit turnaround of over $200 million.  Subsequent to the turnaround, Patrick served as a member of the senior executive team in charge of managing the sale of the Group to Germany’s Continental AG for $1 billion.  

Patrick earned his BBA in Accounting from Loyola University of Chicago, his MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business, and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).   He has been on various boards during the course of his career and is currently a Board Member of the Loyola University of Chicago School of Business.

Nicholas A. Pence
Senior Vice President, Government Sales

Nick Pence joined Optimer Bands in January 2011 and is responsible for leading the DRIFIRE Government Sales team.  Prior to joining Optimer, Nick was the Military Market Manager for TenCate Defense and Tactical, a role he fulfilled after ending his active duty military career.  Nick’s military service began on active duty status serving with the Special Operations Command at 3rd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment.  While at SOCOM, he made four combat deployments—two to Iraq and two to Afghanistan.  Nick’s military involvement continues to this day, as a member of the Army National Guard with Company H 3/108th Cav (Airborne LRRS).   

Nick’s military awards and decorations include the Bronze Star with combat distinguishing Valor device, the Purple Heart, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Army Achievement Medal, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Expert Infantryman Badge, the Ranger Tab, the Parachutist Badge, the Canadian Parachutist Badge, the Dominican Republic Parachutist Badge and the Pathfinder Badge.

Nick holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration, Pre-Law from Michigan State University.  Nick is currently a member of numerous veteran and trade organizations, and is continuing his education through ongoing business management related coursework, including acquisition, sales leadership and executive management. 

Scott Willis
VP of Supply Chain

Scott Willis joined Optimer Brands in 2009 and serves as the VP of Supply Chain.  Scott brought 20 years of manufacturing expertise to Optimer Brands after achieving progressively larger roles of operational responsibility at Fruit of the Loom, one of the largest manufacturers of family apparel in the world, and a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.  In addition to managing multiple domestic manufacturing facilities for the company, he also managed off-shore divisions in Central America.  

Scott is a Black-Belt in Process Engineering and was instrumental in leading the implementation of Statistical Quality Control and Six Sigma manufacturing techniques within Fruit of the Loom, achieving over $10MM in cost savings projects for the Company.  

Scott oversees the manufacturing and distribution of DRIFIRE products and has successfully grown and adapted DRIFIRE’s supply chain model to meet the challenging demands of today’s market.  Scott’s philosophy of continuous improvement has led to operational enhancements in all aspects of cost, quality, and service at DRIFIRE.

Scott is a graduate of The University of Mississippi School of Business.

Christopher S. Moore
EVP, Research and Development

Christopher Moore is a co-founder of Optimer®, Incorporated (now a part of Optimer Brands): a textile and material science research, development and testing laboratory in Wilmington, DE, founded by retired DuPont research scientist, Dr. John W. Moore. Christopher’s achievements at Optimer span over 20 years and include an extensive and diverse range of textile and material scientific research. Christopher’s experience ranges from lab development of polymers and novel fibers, to leading teams in designing and constructing of pilot scale and production polymerization and melt spun fiber plants. More recently, Christopher’s efforts have focused on scientific research and development of the optimization and improvement of human comfort, protection and performance through the use of performance textiles.

Christopher has led many cooperate projects between Optimer and partner companies including Sara Lee Hosiery, Collins and Aikman, Caterpillar, NASA, and DuPont Advanced Fibers (Kevlar® polymer reinforcements).

Christopher graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Maryland and is credited with numerous U.S. and world patents and applications, as well as with various technical presentations and journal contributions.