Viracon Enhances Architectural Design Team

New Hire and Promotions Reflect Ever-Improving Architectural Support

Publish Date: Friday, October 04, 2013

OWATONNA, MN…Viracon announces the hire of Jennifer Highfield as its newest architectural design specialist. Jennifer will work closely with architects and designers in all Viracon markets. Highfield comes to Viracon with a Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Design from Minnesota State University, Mankato and more than 15 years of design experience, including running her own interior design business.

In addition, Marni Windschitl has been promoted to architectural design associate within the design department. Windschitl has been with Viracon since 2004, first as a member of the inside sales team and for the past 18 months as a specialist in the architectural design department. Windschitl will continue to be a valuable resource for architects’ aesthetic and technical inquiries. She will now have the increased responsibility of meeting with architects in their offices to provide education regarding the vast Viracon product portfolio and consulting with architects on project specific glass selection.   

Viracon’s architectural design team provides a significant service by assisting architects through their process of selecting glass products to meet design and performance requirements.

“Our goal is to make the glass selection process as easy as possible for architects by providing everything from appearance characteristics of our glass products to energy performance to LEED information and more,” says Alissa Schmidt. “Adding Jennifer and moving Marni into an expanded role reinforces Viracon’s desire to offer exceptional architectural support."

Schmidt herself was recently promoted to technical resources manager at Viracon. She also has an interior design degree and has been with Viracon since 2005, where she started as a specialist in the architectural design department and most recently was managing the department. In her new role, Schmidt is responsible for managing Viracon’s architectural design and technical services departments with a specific focus on effective utilization of the team members as well as process improvements.  

“I felt it was the right time to implement an organizational structure that takes advantage of the synergies of both departments and enhances the capabilities and services we provide to our customers,” says Rick Velker, Vice President of Technical Services.