LEADERSHIP
Raj B. Shroff
Principal | Founder
Raj B. Shroff founded PINE in 2017. The core philosophy of PINE is the power of integrated left and right brain thinking. Raj loves being a trusted advisor to clients and is passionate about helping them. He loves bringing big ideas and unique perspectives to everything he does.
Prior to founding Pine, Raj was VP of Brand, Strategy & Design at a global experience design firm. During his tenure there he led many turnkey research, strategy and omnichannel design initiatives. He loves technology and consults clients on topics such as blockchain, crypto, XR (AR/VR) and other more far out concepts. He has run many large-scale initiatives, having served in account leadership roles at Fitch (WPP), in the areas of Research, Retail, Brand and Product Design and at Resource (now IBM iX), in Digital Experience & Marketing.
Clients he has served include Intel, P&G, Mars Wrigley, Unilever, Target, Walmart, Dollar General, LG (South Korea), Pernod Ricard (Mexico), Reliance Retail (India), Aditya Birla (India), Mahindra (India), Nestle, Tyson Foods, The North Face, SC Johnson, Gatorade, Carhartt, NFL and others. Raj is an industry speaker on topics such as the future of retail, branding, digital engagement and consumer behavior.
He is Adjunct Faculty at CCAD (Columbus College of Art and Design) teaching the business of design. He is a mentor to students at the Ohio State Fisher College of Business, where he earned his MBA.
He loves spending his free time with his wife and two sons. He is an avid trail runner (ran his first 50-miler in April 2022), mountain biker, adventure traveler and recently picked up acoustic guitar.
John Youger
Partner
John has been focused on the customer, their needs, wants and desires for over 20 years. This focus has evolved into projecting future experiences for well known brands through the use of future trends, business workshops and cutting edge research methodologies with customers and clients. John has touched all forms of the customer experience from Product Development at Fitch (WPP), to Interactive and Digital Experiences at Resource (now IBM iX) and most recently Retail Design and Customer Experiences at WD Partners.
He has led strategies for top companies including P&G, Microsoft, Walmart, Mars-Wrigley, Starbucks, The Home Depot, Target, Pepsi and others.
John is also faculty in the Undergraduate Industrial Design Department and the Masters of Design in Innovation Design Strategies at CCAD (Columbus College of Art and Design). He was awarded the 2017 Faculty of the Year Award.
John enjoys camping, watching documentaries and staying up on anything technology related. He holds a Bachelor of Industrial Design from Ohio State University.