Amy
Christensen-Waddell
President and Chief Executive Officer of Albion Armorers International;
and Director of Business Administration of Film Swords LLC
Howy's
love of swords, and Amy's love of business and of Howy, all fit
together well to create Albion.
The company started in DC as a retailer of other people's products,
with both Amy and Howy handling everything from customer service
to shipping. They moved into a 45,000 sq ft building and began to
manufacture their own sword lines in 2001.
As President and CEO, Amy spends her time focusing on strategy,
marketing, partnerships, the future of Albion and its subsidiary
Film Swords, and taking care of the business, legal, investment
and financial side of things.
Amy graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree
in English in 1989, and began her post-college career with the UW
Foundation - the fundraising arm of the UW-Madison. She got her
realtor's license and worked with Century 21-Affiliated for a year,
while still at the Foundation. In 1997 Amy decided to give up her
life in Madison, and move to Washington, DC to marry Howy. In Washington
she had the opportunity to do more research with another university,
or try something new. She tried something new -- spending two years
as Producer and On-Air Talent for a weekly half hour news program
on NPR. She then spent two years at the Motley Fool as the COO and
head of Customer Service of FoolMart, the e-commerce arm of the
Fool (in "Fool" terms, her title was Deputy Maven).
Albion began in 1999, and in 2000 Amy left the Fool to run Albion
full time. And the rest is history...
|