Mark Newton Joins Carbon Design Group

Mark Newton Joins Carbon Design Group

Carbon Design Group signed Mark Newton as a Project Director for the world-recognized product development consultancy.

"Mark is a great addition to the Carbon team," commented Dan Blase, Carbon Design Group President. "His outstanding project management skills fit perfectly with the high standards we demand for our clients. His deep expertise in working with overseas contract manufacturers is a wonderful complement to our team's experience."

With over 20 years of program management experience, Newton has successfully delivered more than 25 consumer electronics products, resulting in literally millions of devices and touching countless lives. Prior to joining Carbon, Newton worked in a variety of Seattle area companies including T-Mobile, a medical startup, and Microsoft. This broad background meshes perfectly with Carbon's work which spans consumer, medical, and industrial markets.

In his sixteen year tenure at Microsoft, Newton was the architect for an end-to-end product life cycle process including front-end product definition, development, and go-to-market strategy that is still in use today. He also built outsourcing solutions in Mexico, Japan, China, Europe, and Southeast Asia. In these ways and more, Newton was a significant contributor to building the foundation for Microsoft's keyboard business.

More recently, Newton was brought on as a consultant for Microsoft's Xbox Accessories group as Lead Release Manager serving as a liaison between varying business units. In this tenure, he took on the challenge of coordinating several groups in order to guarantee the smooth and timely delivery of test equipment required to support the ultra-high-volume production of Kinect for Xbox 360-one of the top three fastest selling consumer electronics devices of all time.

"What first attracted me to Carbon was its reputation in the industry as a product development company that got things done, whether it was insightful research, creative industrial design, or stunning engineering solutions," Newton said. "What sealed the deal was the opportunity to work with a consultancy that has such strength in both medical and consumer products. What will keep me here are the people. After more than 25 years of product development, I have never seen a more focused product development team that can shift from design work to having fun, and then back to that design focus."

Newton received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has a drive for bringing out the best in his teams and a passion for technology that improves lives. Beyond his work in product development Newton is known in the Pacific Northwest through his Woodenville- based winery. Established in 1983, the DiStefano Winery was one of the first five wineries in Woodinville. Today, Woodenville is home to nearly 100 tasting rooms, and DiStefano is still producing award-winning wine, with half a dozen wines recognized in the 2011 Seattle Wine Awards. "Producing a great wine is really no different than producing a great product. From the early inspirations to the bottom line of user experience, the process is extraordinarily satisfying," says Newton. "Being a business owner myself, only deepens my appreciation of how keeping teams focused on the product vision delivers great results for Carbon's clients."

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