BOLTgroup is known for learning its clients’ industries inside out to provide superior product and brand innovation. Bob Gibson is one reason why.

For more than 30 years, this award-winning designer has managed international product development teams and created innovative product lines and brands for companies such as GE Lighting, Sears Craftsman, Coca Cola, and Lowe’s. He oversees the day-to-day operations at BOLTgroup and also develops intellectual properties (which means inventing something and finding a market for it, either on our own or with clients.) He directs client relationships on select projects, such as those involving royalties.

One undertaking in which Bob takes special pride is an extensive line of mirrors for the Goody division of Newell Rubbermaid that appealed to women, men, and tweens. “They were looking for something new. We made some interesting connections with specific consumer needs and developed those into innovative product solutions,” Bob says. “That’s the part of the business I like best – uncovering new insights and converting them into innovation.”

At its most fundamental, Bob Gibson’s job is to make sure BOLTgroup knows who it is and what it can become. An essential component is providing extraordinary customer service. Bob makes sure we give our clients an experience they won’t get anywhere else and that we deliver beyond what our clients expect.

Bob holds more than thirty patents issued or pending across a variety of industries. Prior to joining BOLTgroup in 1990, he was responsible for all new product development for Techsonic Industries / Humminbird USA, where he developed over 40 new products that revolutionized the sport fishing industry.

Bob is a graduate of Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Industrial Design. He grew up in Philadelphia and still vacations with his family in Ocean City, N.J., every year. If you’re there on the beach next summer, he says you’ll probably recognize him. He’ll be the guy at the barbecue grill, getting covered in smoke and burning the steaks.

The state of North Carolina faced a challenge. Its Department of Vocational Rehabilitation needed a way to test drivers with disabilities. Monty Montague and colleagues at BOLTgroup designed an ingenious mobile testing system. A technician takes the system to the driver’s home and determines which additional steering, brake and accelerator controls are needed to make it possible for the person to drive. The state then adapts the car, giving the person the ability to drive and return to the workforce.

That innovation attracted national acclaim and gave Monty and his team their first IDSA Gold award.  Since then, Monty Montague has become a national leader in product innovation. At BOLTgroup, which he co-founded, he leads multi-disciplinary teams in product and brand strategy, market and user research, industrial design, ergonomics, engineering, and brand development. That’s a fancy way of saying he has one of the coolest jobs around, helping well-known companies create profitable new products. His clients include GE Lighting, Applica / Black&Decker, Herman Miller, Lowe's and Maytag. Monty also leads BOLTgroup's focused effort in developing products and brands for the home.

Monty pursued this career in part because he loved to build things with his father, an engineer. He studied art and initially thought he would be a sculptor. He holds a Bachelor of Product Design degree with honors from North Carolina State University and received the School of Design's Distinguished Alumni Award for 1999. His work at BOLTgroup combines his passions for product innovation, art, design and engineering.

Monty holds many patents for both product design and utility. He’s received numerous international design awards including four Gold IDEA Awards, ID, iF, and MDEA Gold Awards. BusinessWeek’s Innovation and Design ezine interviewed him as part of its “Innovation of the Week” pod cast series, featuring the latest from radical innovators and designers in business. Monty speaks on innovation themes often and he has written for design journals in Europe and the United States, including Innovation Magazine, the Design Management Journal and the PDMA Journal. He’s also an occasional columnist on innovation for the Charlotte Business Journal.

Monty was a co-founder of the Industrial Designers Society of America—Carolinas Chapter and served on the board of directors of the NCSU Design Guild. In addition to his time with design organizations Monty enjoys working with the young people at The Relatives renovating his cabin at the lake, and people watching at the mall while his daughter shops.

Jamey Boiter thought he'd be an architect when he started college—until he took his first graphic design course. "I was intrigued by the ability to communicate a concept graphically or visually that you can't always do verbally," he says. "You can do it in a way that portrays the passion or truths that are really behind the concept—whether it's a company or a product or even a person. When you look at some of the iconic work done in the mid 20th century  by some of the great graphic designers—Rand, Bass, Chermayeff, Vignelli, Olins, Golden, Glaser—you see how well they were communicating a thought. It felt like something I had to do. That's where my passion comes from, and my desire to find the compelling truths in a brand and communicate them."

Jamey is a nationally recognized brand strategist and practitioner. As BOLTgroup's brand principal, he leads all brand innovation, strategy, and graphic design teams. He has been involved in award-winning strategic brand development and design innovation programs with world-class brands such as Kobalt Tools, Coca-Cola, Kraft, IZOD, Nat Nast, and AirDye, to name a few, and has been a featured speaker at national conferences and college campuses on the subject of brand innovation, strategy and design. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the Charlotte Chapter of AIGA.

From his more than two decades at BOLTgroup, he's especially proud of his work for Kobalt Tools, creating a brand that had immediate appeal to consumers. For the luxury clothier Nat Nast, he and colleagues built the brand by using stories to communicate a lifestyle to consumers, and some of their more recent work, the brand development and deployment of a revolutionary sustainable technology—AirDye—a dyeing and decoration process for synthetic fabrics that uses no water. But he says every project is meaningful to him. "I'm extremely proud of all the work my designers do every day."

Jamey attended Clemson University and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Design from East Carolina University.

When not thinking about brand and design, or collecting toys, or writing a brand blog for Fast Company, he's working on the house, and spending time with his family, their cat Maggie, and Max, their Springer Spaniel.

Since joining BOLTgroup in 1994, Ed has been instrumental in building high value relationships with clients such as Coca-Cola, Lowe’s, Emerson, Ryobi, Hunter Fan, Oxford Industries, and many others. His Principal responsibility is aligning our clients’ needs and goals with BOLTgroup's expertise to maximize our impact on their business. “I have the dream job,” he says. “I have the unique opportunity to spend time with corporate leaders across diverse industry segments, and to help them explore and define strategic initiatives that will drive preference for their brand and products in their markets. It’s all about uncovering opportunities, creating innovative solutions, and delivering growth and profits for our clients. Like I say—it’s the dream job!”

Ed brings a depth and breadth of knowledge in brand strategy, research, and sales and marketing, that is an ideal blend of talent and experience to be able to consult and communicate with these executive leaders.

As vice president of business development, Ed also leads BOLTgroup's sales and marketing strategy. “BOLTgroup has the unique ability to connect with and influence multiple aspects of our clients’ business," he says, "so it's vital that we approach each client relationship by first gaining a thorough understanding of their business environment, challenges and goals. That starting point helps give us the necessary insight to do what we do best—create greater success through strategy and innovation."

Prior to BOLTgroup, Ed gained invaluable sales and marketing experience with international corporations such as Xerox and AM Multigraphics. He also spearheaded market development for a number of entrepreneurial businesses in the United States and the United Kingdom.

In his free time Ed puts his boots on and helps his wife Katie with “Healing Horses”—a nonprofit equine rehabilitation and healing organization she founded in 2007. He also enjoys whipping up gastronomic delights in the kitchen. Educated in England, Ed holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Studies and Marketing from the Trent University Business School.