Derek Howard
Atlanta,GA
Summary
Production, Project & Traffic Manager with 10+ years of experience at the intersection of strategy, creativity, and operations - driving best-in-class creative execution while ensuring alignment with business objectives, timelines, and marketing goals. Proven liaison between leadership, creative and manufacturing across a wide variety of diverse creative initiatives.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
Work History
Creative Production Manager
Hautehouse Brands, LLC
01.2024 - 05.2025
- Oversaw production schedules and status reports for 200+ SKUs across 7 brands of in-house and private labels
- Guided product development, prototyping, manufacturing, quality assurance and vendor portal management
- Conceptualized and developed designs for new product packaging, web/social content and Amazon storefront
- Ensured regulatory compliance (FDA, ETL, TM's, copyrights, etc.) for all product/packaging design and copy
- Sourced and negotiated higher-quality materials for new components, drastically improving product appeal
Creative Project & Traffic Manager
Capital Strategies, LLC
04.2021 - 01.2024
- Led weekly status meetings for ~20 active projects with cross-functional teams
- Managed creative briefs and internal workflows, assigning resources, schedules, and reviewing assets prior to approval, production, and archiving
- Served as liaison across executives, creative agencies, and designers to develop custom products, packaging and digital assets
Production Manager
Hautehouse Brands, LLC
05.2015 - 06.2020
- Traveled to Asia to source products, negotiate costs, oversee production, and build strong supplier relationships
- Recommended design modifications, leading to a reduction in assembly time by 15% ($72k) over 12 months
- Renegotiated $100k mold agreement, reducing MOQ by 28% (1M units) and extending supply terms by 45%
- Reduced product defect rate by 20% by enhancing rigorous product testing procedures while ensuring compliance with international safety standards (FDA, ETL, TUV, etc.)
- Authored and maintained international patent and trademark applications for new products
Project Coordinator
Hautehouse Brands, LLC
10.2013 - 05.2015
- Developed and implemented a company-wide product catalog system
- Generated new product UPC's and SKU's using GS1 US Data Hub
- Built and managed e-commerce websites via WordPress, WooCommerce, and Shopify
- Maintained employee credentials and licenses across internal systems and platforms
Education
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration
Louisiana State University, E.J. Ourso College of Business
Baton Rouge05.2013
Skills
- Project Management
- Production Management
- Traffic Control
- Design Approval
- Illustrator
- Dimension
- Product Development
- Packaging & Labeling
- Print Design
- Amazon Seller Central
- Sourcing & Negotiation
- Vendor Portal Management
- FDA/ETL Compliance
- Trademarking
- Patenting
- WordPress
- GS1
- Amazon
- WooCommerce
- Shopify
- Flow
- Wrike
- Mondaycom
Websites
Timeline
Creative Production Manager
Hautehouse Brands, LLC
01.2024 - 05.2025
Creative Project & Traffic Manager
Capital Strategies, LLC
04.2021 - 01.2024
Production Manager
Hautehouse Brands, LLC
05.2015 - 06.2020
Project Coordinator
Hautehouse Brands, LLC
10.2013 - 05.2015
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration
Louisiana State University, E.J. Ourso College of Business
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