Our Team
Mike Sunderland
CEO
C. Michael Sunderland is the President and CEO of DDP Holdings, LLC. Mike assumed this role in June, 2007 as part of the acquisition by Palm Beach Capital. Prior to joining DDP, Mike served as President and COO of Advantage Sales & Marketing, an $800 million marketing services company. He is also on the Board of Directors of Insight Pharmaceuticals. Mike received his B.A. from the University of North Florida; his M.B.A. from the University of Tampa; and his Juris Doctor with honors from Florida State University.
mike@apolloretail.com
Angela Cardy LaFon
Chief Financial Officer
Prior to DDP Angela spent 10 years as Chief Financial Officer of Creative Loafing, a media group with publications in Chicago; Atlanta; Washington, DC; Tampa; Charlotte and Sarasota. Angela came to Creative Loafing with a 10-year background in financial management with two publicly-traded apparel companies. She was VP of Finance at Nutmeg Industries, a publicly-traded manufacturer of licensed apparel for the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and NASCAR. Angela continued to lead Nutmeg’s finance team after the company was acquired by VF Corporation. Prior to that, Angela was a financial manager with a group of diversified public companies involved in food manufacturing, defense, oil & gas exploration and real estate development in North America and Europe. Angela is a graduate of the University of Florida. She began her professional career as a CPA with KPMG Peat Marwick.
angela.lafon@ddpholdings.com
Walt McConnell
Vice President Sales and Client Services
Walt began his career with Carolina Sales Associates in 1990, heading up its new retail division. This was the first step that took Walt and CSA on a path to national merchandising coverage for Lowe’s and the creation of CSA LLC. Walt is a graduate of the University of South Carolina where he earned his degree in finance and marketing.
walt.mcconnell@apolloretail.com
Barb Allen Owens
Vice President Human Resources
Barb began her career in 1980 with the Florida food brokerage, The Trigg Company, serving in various roles over the course of 11 years. She joined PIA Merchandising as they became the industry's first national retail organization in 1991. Later she served as a Human Resource Director at Advantage Sales & Marketing as a Generalist. At Advantage she supported various business units including Retail, Core, Natural / Specialty, RMX and Canada, with a primary focus on the sales side of the organization. She received her Senior Professional Human Resource certification in December 2008.
barb.owens@ddpholdings.com
Linc Yero
Director of Information & Technology
Linc joined DDP Holdings in July 2009. He began his career with PIA merchandising and has held many different positions over the last 18 years, ranging from Planning & Logistics Manager with PIA, to National Account Manager with FieldFlex USA, to VP of Operations/Systems with Timely Retail Solutions (TRS), and most recently Director of Information & Technology with a national marketing firm.
linc.yero@ddpholdings.com
Lauren Bishop
Director of Client Services and Project Management
Formerly Vice President of Operations at McBride Merchandising, Inc. Lauren has more than 19 years in the Retail Services industry. Lauren has worked all facets of the business, service rep, manufacturer’s rep, sales, to Director of National Accounts. Lauren attended The College of Charleston and Kennesaw State College completing coursework in Business Administration.
lauren.bishop@apolloretail.com
Tim Sexton
Vice President - Retail Quality Control and Safety
Prior to joining DDP, Tim worked for Lowe’s for 23 years managing the relationship between Lowes and its retail construction service providers.
tim.sexton@ddpholdings.com
Mel McBride
Client Development
Mel was the Owner and President of McBride Merchandising, Inc. (MMI). A graduate of Georgia Southern University, Mel has over 18 years of sales and merchandising experience focusing on the Home Improvement industry. In 2005 Mel founded MMI with a national footprint primarily on the structural side of the business. In 2007 Mel established MMI Canada and has merchandised portions of every Lowe’s store opened in Canada.
mel.mcbride@apolloretail.com
Jeff Orns
Director - Select Plus Team
Jeff's team focuses on Ace Hardware, Barton’s and Walmart. With more than 10 years new store and remerchandising experiences. He has managed Ace, Walmart , Sears and EC Barton for Select Plus the last 5 years. Jeff and his team are based in Bentonville, Arkansas.
jeff.orns@apolloretail.com
Kristi Engel
Director of Human Resources
Kristi brings 12 years of experience from Advantage Sales and Marketing where she was Director of Category Management. Kristi earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of South Florida and is a candidate for the SHRM Certificate in Human Resources from Villanova University.
kristi.engel@ddpholdings.com