Joel Kapellusch, VP of Operations with us 16 years

In my role as VP of Ops, my team and I are responsible for executing the product solutions we offer and delivering them to our customers. Obviously, we are intensely focused on typical Ops tasks like building products correctly and shipping them on-time, but we are also innovating and continually improving how we operate and build value into our products and process. For those outside our business, you see our product innovation around the end solutions we deliver – and that’s certainly impressive. In my role, I’m concerned with how we support our product portfolio and ensuring that our processes can produce the “next big thing.” One thing I’ve learned in my career is that meaningful collaboration drives meaningful value. When we work well together, we deliver great products that our customers love and when we don’t, we miss the mark. It’s exciting to collaborate with such a great team here at Cree Lighting.

One of the things I love about Cree Lighting is we break barriers here. We seek opportunities to change the status quo, to invent, and to innovate in ways that adds real value. And we don’t just talk about it, we make it a reality. At times, that comes with a lot of pain and struggle, but it also brings intense joy and pride. We’ve been the first to do quite a few things that were “impossible.” And the feeling you get when you accomplish that lasts forever.