I mentioned in my previous posts about the Star Trek convention that I got to know the IAW staff and spend time chatting with them. So I thought I would share a bit on each of them so you can get an idea of who the team is and what they do.
Colin is the project manager who is a big fan of Star Trek and was hired by IAW specifically to run the IAW auctions with Paramount. A sharp guy, Colin has a really good sense of product mix, merchandising and seems laid back enough so that he is probably a great guy to work with.
Holly is the assistant project manager. She and Colin will choose the costumes to use that week and then write the descriptions. She also will answer many of the questions that IAW gets each week (and they get a lot).
Tami is in charge of putting all the costumes together. Basically she runs around the warehouse and finds the costumes that are auctioned off. Her focus is not choosing what is auctioned, but rather putting the costumes together. She will try and find the pieces of a costume if the costume is not complete. She does grunt work according to her, (but with a smile).
Brian is the second in command trekker according to him!. A friend of Colin's from way back and big Star Trek fan (Voyager is his fav), he will see the costume and then identify where it is from with Colin. If they need to research the piece on Trekcore of Memory Alpha, he is the guy who does that. He pulls the costumes after Colin and Holly determine what they want any given week.
Alicia is the main photographer. She does a great job prepping the costumes, and then photographs them against the Next Gen star field backdrop.
Dennis is the Warehouse Manager, he not only takes care of photoshoping the photos and uploading the items for the auction, but he takes care of the physical warehouse.
Gilbert, who is the Shipping Associate, was not at the show (probably too busy shipping the hundreds of packages!). He prepares the items for shipment, prints the COA's and corresponds with the shipping providers.
Many of you know Dominic who was also too busy to be at the show (someone had to run the show while everyone else was dressed up in Star Trek costumes selling me stuff!). He is the General Manager of the entire company, including the 2 retail stores and 2 warehouses. He is in charge of running all operations, including the Star Trek auction. He is the person that handles the funds collection, and of course customer service (which he works very hard at).
Last, but certainly not least, is Tiara is the owner of It's a Wrap. You won't see her involved in the auctions or the store per se as she is always running around doing the deals to get more stock in their two stores. She's the big picture person and CEO.
Thanks to all the IAW staff for chatting with me and filling me in. They are great folk and I hope you all cut them some slack if things are a bit slow with your shipments. There is a lot to do there and they don't have the most efficient tools to work with. (I am working on them to get a better technology solution in place!).
Alec