He states, “With Christopher running the day-to-day business and growing our LED infrastructure, I can focus on our international expansion and new product development.”

The company is transitioning from traditional lighting to an LED platform, a move that Christopher can facilitate due to his experience with the company’s BetaLED line of luminaires. Ruud acknowledges that he was instrumental in building the infrastructure for the launch of the product line in 2007.  

Christopher began working at Ruud Lighting in 1986 holding positions of increasing responsibility from sweeping floors to manufacturing assembly and eventually moving into administrative roles. Though he left the company for a period, he returned in 1997 and was promoted to manager of continuous improvement followed by a promotion to vice president two years later. In 2004 Christopher was named executive vice president and assumed responsibility for national accounts, sales and marketing.