Management Team
Kirk Douglass
President and Chief Executive Officer
Kirk Douglass has more than 35 years of experience in the manufacturing industry, and has spent the past 22 years in product development and offshore manufacturing. As President of Pivot International, Douglass applies his industry knowledge and management skills to direct the company’s initiative of positioning Pivot as a world leader in product design and development engineering services.
President since 1994, Douglass arranged a management buyout of the Health and Fitness Group of PPG’s divested Biomedical Systems Division to form Pivot International. Prior to the buyout, Douglass was instrumental in establishing an office in Taiwan for Applied Resources, Inc., which was purchased by PPG, where he was General Manager. Before working for Applied Resources, Douglass was Vice President of Operations and then President for Electrodynamics, Inc., a leading manufacturer of quartz crystals for the electronics industry.
Douglass in on the Board of Directors for Pivot International, Inc. and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Yale University and a Master of Science degree in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.
William W. McGaw
Director of Business Development
William W. McGaw is responsible for the company’s new client development, channel management, front-end business processes and marketing efforts. McGaw’s extensive management background encompasses the areas of general management, sales and marketing management, new product introduction, channel management, strategic planning, new market penetration, national account management, business rationalization, organizational establishment and aftermarket management.
McGaw holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Oceanographic Technology from Florida Institute of Technology.
Robert Austring
Senior Operations Manager and Business Development Manager
Robert Austring has 30 years of experience in the manufacturing industry. As Senior Operations Manager and Business Development Manager, Austring applies his industry knowledge and technical experience, including medical device product development, in directing the areas of business development, operations, engineering, as well as research and development. His accomplishments encompass new product introduction, process development/optimization, third-party manufacturing, clinical manufacturing, engineering, and facility start-up.
Austring holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Redlands.
Steve Beyer
Director of Client Services
As Director of Client Services, Steve Beyer manages the relationship between the client and Pivot. With the company for 12 years, Beyer started as a mechanical design engineer and has experience in the areas of project management, engineering and account services.
Beyer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Steve Hardwick
Product Development Manager
Steve Hardwick has more than 20 years experience in product development in the toy, fitness equipment, automotive and electronics industries. Hardwick’s focus at Pivot includes project management, industrial design, and mechanical engineering.
Hardwick holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Industrial Design from Kansas City Art Institute.
Lesley Longstaff
Product Development Manager
Lesley Longstaff’s responsibilities at Pivot include overseeing global product development processes, the software engineering department and manufacturing project management. Longstaff’s experience and accomplishments consist of industrial design and design management; project management; director of design; manager of software engineering; manager of manufacturing project management and sustaining department; along with client base industries in industrial, commercial, and military sectors. Of particular interest, Longstaff was involved in three medical device patents.
Longstaff holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati.
Ryan Miller
Account Manager
As an Account Manager for Pivot, Ryan Miller is responsible for developing and maintaining clients and improving the company’s revenue stream. He does this by identifying client needs and precisely matching those needs with appropriate products and services. This includes client communications; pricing and raw materials negotiations; assisting in setting priorities with team leaders and project managers; and managing clients’ expectations in all facets of the product development process.
Prior to being named Account Manager, Miller was Project Manager and was responsible for estimating costs and scheduling all labor, materials, contractors, certification and testing required to complete work spanning from concept to first production, and acted as the primary customer contact during entire course of project execution.
Prior to working at Pivot, Miller’s background encompassed sales and engineering positions at Alliant Techsystems/ATK in Independence, Missouri and Millbank Systems Inc./J.H. Thornton in Kansas City.
Miller holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Baker University.
Shawn Thompson
Director of Engineering
Shawn Thompson directly oversees the electrical engineering department at Pivot and is responsible for all the engineering activities between Kansas City and the global facilities of Taiwan and China. This includes the areas of engineering lab, software, mechanical engineering, and industrial design.
Thompson’s extensive background encompasses avionics systems, consumer electronic devices, high pressure water jet systems, control electronics, embedded systems, along with management experience in test equipment design and manufacturing, and product development and engineering design groups.
Thompson holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering, both from the University of Missouri in Rolla.