About Us

Michaell Voguel
President, CEO & Founder
michael@creatingyourspace.com

DCS Partnership Group & Creating Your Space founder Michael Vogel is a multimedia business visionary with more than 30 years of industry experience and leadership.

After spending 18 years in wholesale manufacturing and 12 more in the new home construction sector, Michael launched DCSPG’s first enterprise – Design Center Solutions (DCS) – in 2000 with the goal of dramatically enhancing the design center industry's marketing, sales and training operations with state-of-the-art technology and media. And he has done just that. Michael is responsible for creating hundreds of design centers and educational marketing programs for the industry's top enterprises including Home Depot, Hunter Douglas and Shaw Home Foundations.

Michael and his team then applied this same industry experience to the retail flooring industry with the launch of Creating Your Space – the flooring industry’s online marketing leader.

Prior to establishing DCS Partnership Group and Creating Your Space, Vogel served as Vice President for MSA Industries and DuPont's Builder Advantage Program. Mr. Vogel is a frequent contributor to design center and builder trade publications and has been featured in many flooring and design center industry publications.

Michael also has an extensive multimedia technology background and continues as a consultant to the high-tech industry.

Jay Flynn
V.P. Sales & Marketing
jay@creatingyourspace.com

Jay received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech followed by three years as a distribution engineer for Florida Power and Light.  He then joined Tuftex Carpet in 1991 where he spent 12 years based in Southern California in various roles, including Regional VP of Sales and Marketing working in both the retail and builder segments.  He also had nationwide responsibility in the builder channel for leading the Tuftex builder specialist sales team, selling national accounts, and leading marketing efforts. 
In 2003, Jay joined The Home Depot as the Director of Sales and Marketing for the Creative Touch Interiors business group.  His responsibilities for Creative Touch Interiors included builder sales, design center sales and marketing for an enterprise that serviced 38 markets across 15 states.

Jay became a partner in the DCS Partnership Group and took the role of VP of Sales and Marketing in June, 2006.  He previously had the distinction of being their first manufacturer investor while at Tuftex Carpet, and the first national subcontractor account while with Creative Touch Interiors.  He clearly believed in the DCS Partnership Group and their products long before he joined Michael and the team.

Jay lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his 3 boys, Matthew, J.D., and Luke, and his wife, Lisa.

George Ruegg
Director, Creative Services
george@dcspg.com

George brings more than 16 years of flooring and multi-media industry experience to Creating Your Space. A founding member of our parent company DCS Partnership Group, George is responsible for Creating Your Space’s creative services operations. He also manages all aspects of the company’s Search Engine Optimization & Search Engine Marketing client services.

Prior to joining DCS Partnership Group, Ruegg served as Sales and Operations Manager for DuPont's Builder Advantage Program and was the Operations Manager for MSA Industries' Residential Contract Division, where he managed a $25 Million Annual Flooring Contract Organization.

George holds an MBA in Marketing from St. Mary's College of Moraga and a Bachelor's Degree in Public Relations from California State University, Chico.

Julie Fawks
Website Development Manager
julie@creatingyourspace.com

Julie joined the Creating Your Space Team as the Website Design & Development Manager with 15 years of Floor Covering Industry experience.  Julie began her career with Shaw Industries, Inc. in 1996 as a Retail Territory Manager, then advanced into the expanding new home construction market in Northern California as a Builder Specialist Territory Manager.  Her responsibilities included sales and marketing to flooring sub-contractors and builders, design center management, and extensive product training to sales teams and designers.  Julie was one of the first Shaw Territory Managers to generate over 10 million dollars in annual sales.
Julie received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from California State University, Chico and currently lives in Orange County.

Shannon Bilby Vogel
Director of Social Media
shannon@creatingyourspace.com

After more than 10 years in retail, Shannon changed her focus from helping people through interior design to helping business owners and executives promote and grow their businesses through social media.

In 2007, Shannon entered into the world of social media by launching and driving one of the flooring industry’s most successful blogs. Since then, she has expanded her skill set by achieving certification as a Social Media Strategist. This training allows her to set up, manage and/or advise businesses to successfully use tools such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to market their businesses.

Shannon currently works with several different industries throughout the country helping to strengthen their brand awareness as well as create and maintain a positive and productive online reputation.

Shannon’s goal is to help companies that see the value of social media but aren’t certain how to properly set up or manage the platforms. Whether you have someone in your organization to manage the content or need help with your entire online presence, Shannon can help you demystify and navigate the world of social media.

Mark Ruegg
Systems & Technology Director
mark@dcspg.com

Mark is a thirteen year veteran of the Residential Contract Industry. He spent five years with MSA Industries residential contract division as both a Project Manager and later a Database Manager where he managed a proprietary front end marketing and pricing system for a $40 million plus flooring contracting business.

Additionally, Mark was responsible for the training and implementation of 12 design consultants and over 50 design centers.
Mark earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Graphic Design from San Francisco State University.

Kerry Davis
Director of Special Projects
kerry@creatingyourspace.com

Kerry has over 10 years experience in the residential contract industry. She led an MSA Industries Design Center Program that evolved into the highly successful DuPont Design Advantage Program™, incorporating a philosophy, methodology and a set of marketing tools that brought value to the new homebuyer, while providing an efficient and profitable process for the builder and flooring contractor.

Kerry has extensive consumer selling experience within the industry as well. She was a design consultant for 3 years, and held the position of Design Manager for MSA Industries where she managed a group of 12 design consultants. Kerry has also developed in-depth design consultant training programs that focus specifically on the builder design center industry.
Kerry received a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado State University.

Adrian Slade
Chief Technical Officer

Adrian began application development in the United Kingdom with various engineering companies before joining Nova Computer Professionals as their Synon/2e expert. He went on to start his own consulting company, designing and building applications ranging from managing Volvo's automobile distribution to writing a set of financial applications for a leading supplier of bio-testing equipment.
He was invited to join the development team for Synon's new generation of application development tools, Obsydian, and spent the next seven years producing innovative solutions to speed application development by orders of magnitude.
Since starting development with Design Center Solutions, he has expanded his skill set to include C# and ASP.Net, creating several technically sophisticated web applications.

Alev Esmer
Senior Project Manager
alev@dcspg.com

Alev has over 20 years experience in Management Information Systems, mainly in retail and financial services companies. She has held positions as Systems Analyst, Business Analyst, Project and Team Leader for such companies as Dylex Ltd. (Canada), The Gap, Williams-Sonoma and Wells Fargo Bank. For the past 15 years, her focus has been in Business Intelligence and reporting. She also has consulting experience.

Alev's experience for managing both internal and external resources has made her a natural to assist in managing our development process in new businesses and projects within our existing businesses.
Alev earned her BA in Economics and Statistics from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey; and added her Information Processing certification from Seneca College in Toronto, Canada

Eric Fritz
Controller
eric@dcspg.com

Eric has been in the Accounting field for over 15 years.  He has worked for small organizations like Sullivan Vineyards to large corporations like E-Loan, and in industries that include non-profit, public, private and government agencies.  In those 15 years, he has steadily worked his way up from Bookkeeper to Controller.  He is now going into his 5th year with DCS Partnership Group.

In 2008 he obtained his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.  He also holds a B.S. with emphasis in Accounting.

When Eric is not crunching the numbers for the DCS Family of Companies, he enjoys coaching youth soccer, bowling and volunteering as Auditor for his local PTA.