Our Team
Airpark Location
Curt Viehmeyer – General Manager/Co-Owner
After graduating from Colorado State University with a degree in biology, Curt spent two years teaching science in Malaysia with the Peace Corps. His career started on the loading dock at Sears Trostel, and eventually to an equity stake as co-owner in 1981. He has been general manager of the company since 1983. His free time is spent with family and friends, and playing golf.
Steve Schwartz – President/Co-Owner
Steve has a BA in Environmental Biology from Florida Atlantic University. He worked in agricultural research and the ecology laboratory at Colorado State University before coming to Sears Trostel in 1979 as a truck driver. In 1981, he acquired an equity stake in the company, and today focuses on sales and account management. He and his wife of 32 years have four grown children. In his spare time, he enjoys skiing, golf, camping and fishing, and building custom furniture.
Russ Bunce – V.P. Sales and Marketing
Russ serves as Sears Trostel’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. In this role, he is responsible for the sales, customer service, and marketing teams. Russ brings over 15 years of executive leadership serving as the Vice President Strategic Business Units at RGS Energy and as Sr. Director at KB Home. Russ holds an MBA from Western Michigan University and enjoys spending time with his family who all enjoy skiing and ice skating.
Carl Herrmann – Operations Manager
Carl came to Sears Trostel in 1994 and became Operations Manager in 2001. Carl led a team in 2002 and then again in 2008 to plan, and implement a new shop floor and work procedures based on the principles of Lean Manufacturing. Carl's current focus is on simplifying and integrating the main shop floor computer systems as well as continuing to identify waste in all aspects of the operation. In his free time, he enjoys playing guitar and playing chess.
Deanna Payne – Accounting/HR Manager
Deanna began her career at the Fort Collins Women's Clinic while working to complete her BS in Finance at the University of Northern Colorado. After graduating, she worked for a local robotics company in accounting. In 1996, she joined Sears Trostel as Accounting Manager and added the responsibilities of HR Manager a year later. She enjoys traveling, watching sports, going to concerts and spending time with her two grown children.
Kevin Wellington – Sales Manager
Kevin has been with Sears Trostel since 2002 he has a vast history in sales spanning from newspapers, fire extinguishers, hardwood shelving, dining sets, educational software, staff development solutions, and now, architectural moldings. Kevin earned his BBA from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, in 1988. He enjoys spending time with family, often in the Colorado Mountains.
Mike Viehmeyer – Inside Sales
Mike, serves as an inside salesman at Sears Trostel, responsible for customer service and order entry. Mike has worked at Sears Trostel in many different roles since 2010. He was born and raised in Fort Collins, Colorado and graduated from Rocky Mountain High School. In his free time, he enjoys various outdoor activities with his wife Saera and his dog Toki.
Jason Wilson – Purchasing Agent
Jason has been with Sears Trostel going on 12 years. He is responsible for procuring Hardwood Lumber and Hardwood Plywood for both the Riverside and Airpark locations. Outside of work Jason enjoys trying to play golf, BBQ’ing, and long summer nights on his deck.
Alex Coode – Sales and Customer Service
Alex works in inside sales. His primary duties include quotes, order entry, and project management. Alex has held various positions from outside sales to warehouse in his 13 years in building material supply. Alex has a wife and four children; he enjoys spending time with his family and fishing in his free time.
Tim Veilleux – Inside Sales
Tim holds a B.A. in Human Communications from UNC along with a background in custom cabinetry and fine furniture making. Tim believes in providing quality service to customers and provides quotes for custom millwork or anything else that may need manufacturing. Tim is a Colorado native and spends his time with his wife, in his woodworking shop, and enjoying the beautiful Colorado Mountains.
Zach Eckman – Operations and IT
Zach is responsible for product design, network and systems administration, and machine diagnostics and repair. In Zach’s 15 years at Sears Trostel, he has drawn over 10,000 new custom moulding profiles. Zach has many hobbies and enjoys working on projects of all sorts. He likes spending his free time with his wife and kids who enjoy skiing, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Brad Peters – Outside Sales
Brad Peters serves as Sears-Trostel’s outside sales for northern Colorado and the I-70 corridor. Brad has worked in the lumber and millwork industry since 1983 in many capacities with most of those years with Sears-Trostel. Outside of work Brad enjoys golfing, mountain biking and spending time with family.
Trevor Jones – Production/Wholesale Warehouse Manager
Trevor is responsible for maintaining and producing the superior standard and quality of most of the high volume milled production work. Trevor brings over 16 years of experience in the construction and manufacturing field along with five years shipping and receiving knowledge. Trevor holds a Degree in Architecture Design from Montana State University and now enjoys building his life with his family in Colorado.
Taylor Key – Sales Operations Coordinator
Taylor spends most of his time in the office making things run smoothly between all the different departments. He grew up in Arizona and, moved to Colorado in 2015. Taylor was a manager for Sprint and Wireless advocates for over three years. He enjoys camping, Fishing, and building computers.
Riverside Location
Matt Schmitz – Warehouse Representative
Matt is here to help customers select the best quality lumber to meet their needs. He has over 17 years in the lumber industry and over ten years in delivery coordination services. In his free time, he enjoys camping and biking riding with his wife.
Chet Nance – Assistant Manager
Chet grew up on a small farm outside of Edmond, Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a BA in Business Administration – Finance. He met his wife Kristy and moved to Fort Collins Colorado in 1986 where they raised two sons. Chet has a long history of sales and business administrative service experience with local businesses in construction and industrial sales.
Lenny Scovel – Shop Supervisor
Lenny began his woodworking career shortly after moving to Colorado in 1985. He studied Construction Management at Colorado State University, and his professional portfolio includes a dozen historic storefronts in Old Town Fort Collins and throughout the state. After he blows the dust off, Lenny is an actor and enjoys camping, biking and collecting and playing European board games.
James Brookman – Sales Associate
James is busy working behind the scenes to help Sears-Trostel engage and serve our customers. James background includes merchandising manager for JC Penney, visual merchandiser in the wine and spirits industry, jewelry display, gallery exhibition, and event design. He is a scenic designer for OpenStage in Ft. Collins. James received a nomination for the Henry Lowenstein award for excellence.
Vince Wilson – Warehouse Lead
Vince is responsible for making sure the warehouse stays stocked up and helping customers get the lumber products they need. He studied Woodworking and Furniture Design in college and sometimes teaches turning at Red Rocks Community College. In his spare time, he likes working in his shop where he specialized in turning.
Sam Lafleur – Warehouse Associate
Sam works in the warehouse and is there to get customers the lumber they need. Previously working in a variety of environments such as grounds maintenance and microchip manufacturing, Sam is primarily self-taught in everything from woodworking to quantum physics. Outside of work and when he isn’t advancing his knowledge, he relaxes by creating things, meditating, and watching the occasional TV show.
Andrew Curtis – Sales Associate
Andrew Curtis is one of Sears Trostel’s highly trained sales consultants. Born and raised in Colorado, Andrew is currently pursuing his bachelor’s degree in business. He enjoys spending time with his wife and son, and also owns a small woodworking business located in Fort Collins.
Jet Manalo – Sales Associate
Jet, has been with Sears Trostel for ten years working in Production and Sales. He genuinely enjoys working with people. Before he came to Sears Trostel, he spent 14 years building and installing staircases. Jet has coached Little league baseball and Lego Robotics, but his true passion is riding his mountain bike.
AJ (Aaron Jensen) – Sales Associate
Aaron or “AJ” is one of the members of our team that is trained to sell and demonstrate all Festool tools. He has a degree as an Architectural Draftsman from Front Range Community College here in Fort Collins. For several years he was a member of the Rocky Mountain Woodturners and has demonstrated at their annual symposium a couple of times.
Katharine Fitzgerald – Sales Associate
Before Sears Trostel, Katharine had worked as a jack-of-all-trades for several small businesses. Now she continues to wear many hats as a Sales Associate. Originally from Virginia, Katharine moved to Colorado in 2014 to receive her MA in Communication Studies from Colorado State University. In her free time, Katharine writes fiction, collects house plants, and enjoys awful movies.
Liz Carter – Administrative Assistant
Liz helps with the back house operations at the Riverside retail location. She holds a BFA in industrial design with an emphasis in furniture design. Currently, she is working towards a degree in Human Resources. Liz spends her free time with her husband and daughter exploring the beautiful Rocky Mountains.
Chris Harris – Sales Associate
Chris is responsible for providing excellent customer service while guiding customers through sales and work orders. Chris has experience in construction from framing and trimming to custom fireplace builds. He spends most of his free time making custom wood furnishings and studying classic wood joinery.
Bob Jefferies – Custom Shop Assistant
Bob, as the custom shop assistant, is here to cut, mill, sand, plane, route, glue, work on intricate projects like custom arch casings and moldings — or to be available to pick his brain. He enjoys sharing his 20 years of professional woodworking experience with those that come into the shop. You can find him around Fort Collins playing his mandolin with several bluegrass bands.