You'll fit right in.

In 2006, Thomas founded our flagship Balsam Hill brand in his Palo Alto, CA apartment and coordinated a terrific group of partners that revolutionized the Christmas tree. Today, Thomas is privileged to work with an exceptional team of colleagues and partners around the world to lead the strategic direction of our products and our company. He retains his role as the lead designer of each of Balsam's Christmas trees, and travels the world in search of the finest products to share with our customers.

Thomas’ entrepreneurial passion surfaced at age three when he started a business selling dead tennis balls re-purposed as dog toys to neighbors from his trusty red Radio Flyer wagon. More recently, Thomas served for seven years as CEO of Progress Wire Products, in marketing for the Clorox Company, in business development for the Cleveland Clinic, and as a consultant at McKinsey & Company. Thomas has been named an EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award Finalist and honored on the Silicon Valley "40 under 40" list. He is an angel investor, mentor, and board advisor to consumer product and ecommerce startups. He was named an Arjay Miller Scholar in Stanford’s MBA program and is a proud Purple Cow, holding an undergraduate degree from Williams College in Geosciences, Economics, and Environmental Studies. If granted a superpower, Thomas would choose the ability to heal. (The ability to create world class ski resorts with endless powder days would be a close second.)

Caroline joined Balsam Brands in 2007 in a Marketing-focused role and has played many different roles since then. Now, she oversees Operations, guides our brand direction and expression, and champions cross-functional decision-making and coordination. Working with the team to solve complex problems with simple solutions is one of her favorite things about her role.

Her professional career has included strategic planning and marketing roles for leading consumer brands at Levi Strauss & Company and as a consultant at Bain. She also has experience in the non-profit sector at The Bridgespan Group and YouthBuild USA. Caroline was an Arjay Miller Scholar in the Stanford MBA program and holds undergraduate degrees in Economics and Systems Applied Science from the University of Pennsylvania. If granted the superpower of her dreams, she would be morphing into all sorts of animals, vehicles, and other physical objects, emulating Plastic Man from the 70’s cartoon series (her childhood hero!).

Kristen is one of the original team members at Balsam Brands, and started at the company as an intern during graduate school in 2007. Intrigued by the job diversity, culture, and entrepreneurial spirit of the company, Kristen joined full-time in 2008. Kristen first focused on performance marketing in addition to a plethora of other initiatives. Kristen now oversees all marketing, eCommerce and project management activities, assists with company strategy, and often makes chocolate chip banana bread for colleagues to enjoy (and sometimes her family and friends, too…).

Kristen’s career started in the finance world; prior to business school she worked in investment banking and private equity before joining Sears Holdings. Kristen was named an Arjay Miller scholar in Stanford’s MBA program, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Chicago with a double-major in Economics and Statistics. If given a superpower, Kristen would probably want to have the ability to have unlimited superpowers – she likes having options.

Mike manages the finance, accounting, and treasury functions at Balsam; he counts the money, prepares the financial reports, and oversees our insurance and capital needs.

Mike is a Certified Public Accountant and before joining the Balsam team, worked as a senior manager for Deloitte & Touche. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Master in Professional Accounting and received a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Utah State University. If Mike could choose any superpower, he would replicate into 3 “Mikes” – 1 to play, 1 to work, and 1 to keep up with his 3 busy children.

Claire wears dozens of hats and loves them all. She began her career as a strategy consultant at Parthenon (now Ernst & Young), worked in Global Strategy at Starbucks and ran Operations at NutraBella and Beau-coup. She joined Balsam in 2012 and now oversees People Initiatives & Strategic Projects. She graduated from the Stanford MBA program and holds an undergraduate degree from Williams College in Political Economy. If given any superpower, Claire would choose breathing under water so she could swim with the fishes to the depths of the ocean.

Jennifer is obsessed with great product so it is fitting that she leads our merchandising, sourcing and product development efforts. She has spent her career at lifestyle specialty retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch, Williams-Sonoma, and Restoration Hardware and is deeply passionate about building great brand experiences for customers. If she could have a super power, it would be to fly because a) how awesome would that be? And b) she could get to where she wants to be faster.

Bernie joined Balsam in 2011 and focuses on domestic operations and the Customer Success teams; ensuring that orders ship and arrive on-time by working with a great team and power-snacking on Cheetos (crunchy only). If given any superpower, Bernie would choose flying - long legs + coach seats = uncomfortable.

Hazlitt has years of global experience in building enterprise wide applications and communicating strategic direction to drive results. He began his career as Technical Consultant/Systems Analyst at Compaq Computers and later went on to build technology operations and development teams at major retailers - Michael Kors, New York & Company, Ann Inc (among others). Hazlitt joined Balsam in 2018 where he oversees the technology function. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering as well as various other technical/management certifications. If given any superpower, Hazlitt would choose to have the ability to move from one place to the other within seconds so that he could be at different places when desired...

Nat really enjoys being a dad, a lawyer, and an amateur at a whole lot of hobbies that don’t get much of his time. At Balsam, he oversees the legal function but tries to keep his “scary lawyer hat” tucked away for use on special occasions only. Prior to joining Balsam in 2014, Nat spent eleven years as a corporate/M&A lawyer in a law firm and, before that, clerked for Judge Alice Batchelder on the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia and BA from Williams College. If he had a superpower, Nat would be able to render and dispense justice perfectly (which would require a whole host of other super-cool superpowers).

Mike spends his work time making sure that our boxes get to their homes around the world, whether it is a warehouse or a customer’s house. He has had multiple “careers” all relating to operations, from flying things that go fast, to running a manufacturing startup to his current role at Balsam. He has an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from UMass, Amherst. If he could have any superpower, it would be the ability to teleport himself back to the top of a ski mountain without a lift. Especially on powder days!