Richard (Dick) Lyons
Principal/Chairman, lives in the Kansas City area
913-897-4416 phone
913-207-0466 cell
dlyons@lyonscompanyllc.com

Education: Rockhurst University Kansas City - Bachelor Science Business Administration and Minors in Finance and Law

Territory: Dick provides internal administrative functions for the company including a marketing role and management of the company's finances. He also initiates marketing promotions and provides statistical sales information to Michelle to assist her in her role as President and Dick and Michelle consult on a regular basis.

Biography: Dick is a true industry veteran beginning his career in contract furniture in 1973 with Fixtures Furniture. From 1973 to 1996 he held senior executive positions with several contract furniture manufacturers including national marketing director one and president at two separate companies. In 1997 Dick was not the surviving president when his smaller wood company was merged into a larger metal company. He returned to Kansas City in 1996 to found The Lyons Company- initially a representative and consulting firm. Over the years as The Lyons Company has grown the consulting side of the business was dropped.

Michelle Acamovich
Principal/President, lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
319-290-1325 cell
macam@lyonscompanyllc.com

Education: University of Northern Iowa - Degree in Interior Design Minor in Marketing

Territory: As President of The Lyons Company Michelle is responsible for all daily operational activities of the Rep Firm. This includes but is not limited to the management of the sales organization and interfacing with all the manufacturers the company represents. She consults on a regular basis with the chairman on matters regarding the performance of the company.

In addition to her duties as President Michelle maintains a client base in Eastern Iowa that she visits on a regular basis.

Biography: Michelle began her furniture career after graduation with the Knoll Dealer in Des Moines Iowa where she traveled throughout the state on a variety of projects in sales/design. She left the Knoll Dealer to join the Teknion Dealer in Eastern Iowa again in sales/design for an additional two years. Michelle joined Dick Lyons in 2006 with 4 years of excellent furniture experience. In 2016 Michelle became the clear choice by Dick Lyons to succeed him as president of the Lyons Company and they began a systematic orderly process whereby Michelle became a shareholder in the company and its president in January 2019.

Mark Hartman
Associate, lives in Kansas City area
913-486-6674 cell
mhartman@lyonscompanyllc.com

Education: University of Kansas- Bachelor of Science, School of Journalism.

Territory: Dealers in the states of Kansas and Missouri except Columbia/Jeff City and the St Louis area. Mark and Kelly also call on assigned dealers in the Metro Kansas City area.

Biography: Mark began his career in sales with Fixtures Furniture immediately after graduation. After a period of inside sales training he moved to Field Sales Representative positions in various territories. Mark's upward path at Fixtures led to his becoming the National Sales Manager. Mark decided to begin a new career as an independent manufacturers' representative and was the first person to ever leave Fixtures Furniture that Norman Polsky would allow to rep Fixtures independently.

Mark owned and operated Hartman and Associates, a multi-line rep firm based out of Kansas City for 20 years. He closed his firm in 2010 to join The Lyons Company. Mark brings great experience and industry knowledge to Lyons Company.

Kelly Schafer
Associate, lives in Kansas City area
816-589-3345 cell
kschafer@lyonscompanyllc.com

Education: Iowa State University- Bachelor of Arts/ Marketing. Johnson County Community College - Associate Interior Design

Territory: All architectural firms in the state of Kansas and the Kansas City Metro area. State of Missouri West of and including Columbia and Jeff City but not including Spring field. Calls on select dealers in Kansas City.

Biography: Kelly began her career as an intern with Knoll, working for Knoll then subsequently joining the Knoll Dealer in Kansas City as their A-D liaison for 4 years. She then joined a well-known Kansas City Rep Firm calling mainly on A-D Firms in Kansas City and the state of Kansas. After 5 years as an independent rep Kelly came back to the dealer side of the business as the A-D liaison for a major Kansas City Dealer. She joined The Lyons Company in March 2018 and we are very pleased and proud to add an individual of Kelly ' s industry experience and networking to our great team, especially experience with the A-D community.

Lauren Richter
Associate, lives in St Louis Missouri
314-492-1448 cell
lrichter@lyonscompanyreps.com

Education: Missouri State University- Bachelor of Science Degree in Interior Design

Territory: From Eastern Missouri to the West but not including Columbia and Jeff City. The cape and Eastern Illinois. Illinois territory always includes East St. Louis metro area, but the balance of the state varies by manufacturer.

Biography: After graduating from Missouri State Lauren joined a major St Louis dealer she had interned with while in college. Her 4 years of design/ project management with the dealer was valuable experience along with the opportunity to work with local A-D firms on major projects. She then transitioned to the end user side of the business in Facilities with a large St. Louis corporation doing design and space planning in their facilities division. Lauren is very talented and hardworking, and we feel fortunate to have her representing The Lyons Company and our manufacturers in Eastern Missouri.

Gena Dushan
Associate, lives in Omaha Nebraska
402-680-9540 cell
gdushan@lyonscompanyllc.com

Education: University of Nebraska - Bachelor of Science Interior Design NCIDQ 150057

Territory: State of Nebraska

Biography: Gena's first position out of college was Staff Designer for a Haworth-All Steel dealer in Omaha. After several years she moved to the local Knoll dealer as Director of Design. Following a brief sabbatical to get two children in school, Gena rejoined the industry with the Steelcase dealer, specifically to be the Design/ Project Manager for the new Union Pacific Corporate Headquarters in Omaha. After completion of that multiyear project Gena tried her hand at entrepreneurship, owning her own commercial/residential design firm, Design 180. In 2013 she joined the Haworth dealer in Kansas City to be the Project Manager for their new Omaha branch. Gena joined The Lyons Company in February 2016.

Ryan Walter
Associate, live in Des Moines, Iowa
515-360-6931 cell
rwalter@lyonscompanyreps.com

Education: University of Iowa - Bachelors Degree in Communication Studies, Minor in Business

Territory: Dealers and Architectural Firms in Midwest and Western Iowa

Biography: After graduating from the University of Iowa, Ryan joined a major office furniture dealer in the Des Moines market, where he was a sales representative/account manager for them. His 7 plus years of office furniture sales experience at the dealer, helped him manage projects from the overall development stage to the installation and service stage with clients throughout the state. He also got the opportunity to work with local A&D firms with presenting them new office furniture solutions for upcoming projects. Ryan also has 2 years of experience as an account manager with a flooring distributor for the state of Iowa, where he presented commercial/residential flooring products to A&D firms and flooring contractors.