WaterMark announced that Steve Rodden has officially joined WaterMark as vice president of product development. Rodden, a 15-year product design veteran, comes from Fiori Research and Design in Portland, Oregon, a firm he co-founded with Steve Brown in 1998. Over the past six years, Rodden has led the firm’s design and engineering teams in the on-time and successful launch of over 50 innovative consumer products for such leading companies as Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Intel and Vulcan.

Rodden has been working with WaterMark since November 2004 in a consulting capacity, helping lead the product development department through the transition from Arcata to Portland. Working in collaboration with the Arcata product development team, Rodden has also helped ensure effective execution of the company’s 2005 product launches.

“Steve brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our senior leadership team, along with a burning passion for our brands and products,” said Jim Clark, CEO of WaterMark. “Steve will play an integral role as we follow through on our commitment to lead the markets we serve with consumer-centric products that will set new standards in design, innovation and performance.”

Prior to co-founding Fiori Research and Design, Rodden was a section manager at Intel where he led a team of 22 designers and engineers and established an advanced development group responsible for product and technology research looking three to five years out. Before joining Intel, he was a program manager and lead engineer at Warn Inc., a leading player in the automotive aftermarket. Rodden has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from California State University and has studied advanced product development and brand strategy under professors from both Harvard and Stanford.

“With its portfolio of amazing outdoor brands and its reputation for authentic, quality products, Watermark is an organization that I’m tremendously excited to be a part of,” Rodden said. “With the new WaterMark headquarters in a city I love-Portland-it was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. We’re taking a group of exceptionally talented, experienced people from Arcata and combining them with outstanding designers and engineers from some of the preeminent sports and outdoor companies in Portland. It’s going to be rocket fuel for inspired thinking and a new level of innovation in WaterMark products.”