A graduate of the University of Massachusetts with a degree in Engineering, Mr. Conrad Traut started his career as the youngest Engineering Manager for United Parcel Service in Chelmsford, MA. With a passion for New Product Development.

Mr. Traut moved to California in the early 90's to help create a startup company that marketed and distributed consumer goods. Starting with 4 employees, Mr. Traut was instrumental in growing the company to over 60 employees and 40 million dollars in annual revenue in less than 5 years.

During this time he was personally responsible for the development and marketing of products such as the Odyssey Educational Talking Globe, the first educational computerized globe, promotional products for Chevrolet Motor Company, and the product marketing of the first ever Ultimate Fighting Championship.

After successfully growing that business and assisting in the design and marketing of over 150 products, he moved to Black & Decker to lead an elite product development team within the Hardware & Home Improvement Division.

While personally managing the design and manufacturing of multiple new products, he and his teams were successful in revising the entire development process used to bring new products to market, resulting in significant cost savings and faster time to market product launches. His passion for new products produced such innovative products as the remote controlled lock; lifetime guaranteed metal and plastic finishes, and the initial development of retinal and finger print scanning for consumer hardware devices. After being heavily recruited by Avery Dennison, Mr. Traut managed the Product Development Group in the newly created Writing Instruments Division, personally developing over 25 new products and hundreds of new retail units, including the world's first Retractable Permanent Markers.

After successfully establishing multiple global development and manufacturing systems and launching 100’s of new products, he was appointed to lead the Product Development Department in the largest division of Office Products North America; the 700 Million dollar division of Binders, Organization and Presentation Materials. Managing budgets in excess of 1 Million dollars his teams were directly responsible for developing multiple products per year, utilizing the low cost advantages of global manufacturing to produce products in the USA and worldwide.

Mr. Traut is no stranger to “firsts”. His abilities as an engineer, visionary and leader have allowed corporations to expand their initiatives and increase their growth and profits. In each of Mr. Traut's executive positions he was hand-picked to head the most challenging and encompassing new product initiatives that the company had undertaken. His leadership and insight gave them the confidence to pursue these initiatives, and in each case they were a resounding success.

Throughout Mr. Traut's career he has been heavily involved with both design and manufacturing. He has successfully developed global relationships and strategies that optimize and streamline the development process. Mr. Traut founded Creative Technology Industries to craft an environment where the strength of intelligent design and the expertise of world-wide manufacturing can be brought together uniformly

A California native, Ms. Celina Cruz began her career in Design and Illustration over 15 years ago. Her varied experience includes working as an Art Designer and Illustrator for companies such as Fox Studios, Disney and Paramount Pictures.

She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from California University. She also studied at Otis College of Art and Design, in Los Angeles. In addition to her well received studio work, Celina has worked for many diverse companies as a graphic designer, Art Director and Marketing Director.

Her wide range of experience and unique skill set has enabled her to transcend the traditional functions of illustrator and designer and develop a unique role as a creative manager and to bring her fine arts sensibility and her precise organizational skills to the development of new products. These qualities were recognized by a major advertising firm for whom she spent over five years heading their Art Department, developing not only the company’s brand equity and identity but also their clients’.

She was able to influence the design direction of major urban development projects from Cherry Hills Mall in New Jersey to The Rouse Company’s premier properties in Houston and Colorado Springs. In addition, Celina designed the original promotional literature and graphics for the 1992 opening of the largest enclosed shopping complex in the nation, with just over 2.5 million sq ft., The Mall of America in Minnesota.

From there she lead a design and marketing team at the Koll Company, focusing her talents as Director of Marketing and Corporate Planning for their ten regional offices and three international locations. Her responsibilities included managing a seven person team of design and marketing professionals, website management and design and overseeing the company’s public relations strategy.

Celina has brought all of these diverse experiences to her position at Creative Technology Industries. She is responsible for the planning of clients’ marketing and sales strategies and works on the conceptual industrial design of diverse consumer goods. Her illustrative abilities are instrumental in creating a visual story for the product’s look and feel as well as defining its market introduction.

Celina’s superior technical skills in drawing, sculpture and modeling extend to problem solving, and creativity. This visual intelligence has allowed her to envision not only new ideation of products, but also new services for businesses. A whole-systems thinking approach from broad corporate, commercial, and promotional perspectives