James D. Miller, (no relation to Seth Miller) was most recently President and CEO of Apex Construction Systems, Inc.  Jim’s background includes more than 25 years of senior management experience in start-up and early stage companies. During that time he has held senior executive positions in both venture-funded and publicly held companies. He has founded or co-founded four companies, turned around one company and been a senior officer in two other early stage companies. Jim graduated from Wittenberg University with a BS in Political Science and History. He began his career in marketing at Ford Motor Co. and then moved into a sales position at IBM.

Seth Miller, Chairman, is a specialist in managing consumer service & product businesses.  He has worked with shoe manufacturing and retail at U.S. Shoe Corporation, in shoe catalog and e-tail sales as Chief Operating Officer at The Mark Group, and has served as a member of the Advisory Board of Abacus-Direct, the largest cooperative database of catalog companies in the United States. He is a 1989 graduate of Harvard Business School and received his BA in Economics at Tufts University in 1980. 


Advisory Board

Lewis L. (Lee) Bird III founded Bridgetown Capital Partners LLC  in March 2009. He created this consumer direct private equity company after a twenty-three year career, leading some of the most recognized and respected global brands and companies. His leadership experiences have been quite broad, having led high growth emerging multi-channel businesses, as well as helping to turn around many multi-billion dollar retail/ecommerce companies. These experiences have given him the operating experience necessary to help Bridgetown’s operating firms become robust and high-performing businesses.

Prior to founding Bridgeport Capital Partners, Lee was  President of the Nike Affiliate group of brands (which included Converse, Cole Haan, Hurley, Umbro, Bauer Hockey, and Starter), led the company’s efforts in Mergers & Acquisitions, and was a member of Nike Inc’s Executive Committee. Under his leadership, each brand in his portfolio experienced record growth, market share, profitability, and return on invested capital.

Before joining Nike, Lee was EVP and Chief Operating Officer at Gap Inc., where he helped lead the turnaround of Gap, and the turnaround and growth of Old Navy.

Lee did his undergraduate studies at Ithaca College, where he also earned All America honors in Swimming, and earned his MBA from Babson College’s Olin Graduate School of Business, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.

Rob Langstaff is founder/ceo of RYZWear, a sneaker manufacturer that puts the consumer in charge. They don't dictate style, they let the consumer design what's hot and what's not. RYZ runs monthly design contests where the community uploads designs and votes for their favorites. They are tapping into a new cultural movement whereby consumers resist brands messages and products shoved down their throats, they want to participate in the creative process. RYZ runs sneaker design competitions every 3 weeks and manufactures the winning design in just 6 weeks.

Before starting RYZWear, Rob was with Adidas as President of Adidas America and earlier in Managing Director roles for Adidas Group and Adidas Japan.  Rob received an MBA in International Business - German from Schiller International University and earlier graduated from the United States Air Force Academy.

Bill Tippit, Sr., is a Fit Specialist who has 35 years of experience developing shoe lasts for hundreds of custom boot and shoe makers, as well as most of the top shoe companies in the USA.   He is an expert in shoe fit and has had articles published in International trade publications on shoe fit and last development. He has worked in 15 countries and has excellent relationships with last makers, sole manufacturers, and shoe companies around the globe.

Greg Van Gasse is a co-founder of Oh! Shoes and has spent more than 15 years in senior management roles in footwear companies.  He was recruited into the footwear industry following 16 years of global management experience with Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever.  His footwear career began as SVP with Florsheim, where he was responsible for Marketing, Sales, and Strategic Planning. In 1998 he was hired as President of Brown Branded to turnaround their $300 million portfolio of women’s brands that included Naturalizer, which he built into the #2 brand of women’s footwear.  Prior to founding Oh! Greg was President and CEO of Dr. Martens footwear, where he returned the brand to profitability, and relocated manufacturing from the UK to Asia.  Greg has successfully led divisions of Fortune 500 companies.  He has successfully launched and re-launched some of the world’s best-know brands.  Greg holds an MBA in Marketing from Michigan State University.