Daniel T. Emerson     CEO Light & Motion

After graduating from Tufts with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a BA in English, Daniel went on to attend Stanford, where he earned his Masters in Manufacturing systems.

Out of Graduate school, Daniel was placed in charge of an assembly plant for Raychem where he turned one of the poorest performing plants into one of the best performing plants of this Fortune 500 business. Leading the turn-around, he implemented lean manufacturing principles, kanbans with suppliers, and rationalized the product line.

Daniel left Raychem to help build Atlas Snowshoe Company. Atlas grew 6 fold and won REI’s prestigious “Vendor of the year award” for on-time performance and sales growth. Daniel led a team that built the factory in SF and managed all operations including product development for Atlas. Later, after Atlas was sold to K2 Sports, Daniel was the product manager for 3 brands of snowshoes while he moved all three lines of business to China, building out a full vertically integrated production facility.

Daniel took the reins of Light & Motion in the spring of 2007. The company was close to closing its doors. Daniel was joined by Ann-Elise Emerson and together they led a turnaround, which has included developing a focused lighting strategy built around LEDs with synergies across dive, bike, outdoor, and most recently, on-camera & cinema lighting. Light & Motion has been a leader in the industries it has entered, promoting open testing standards and ultra compact portable systems designed for challenging environments.

Light & Motion was founded in 1989 by two Stanford graduates. Light & Motion is a vertically integrated manufacturer, doing all design, assembly and sales from their factory in Marina.

MSE Manufacturing Systems, Stanford University, 1990

BS Mechanical Engineering, 1983

BA English, Tufts University, 1983