Board of Directors

Jason Makler has served as our Chair since March 2021, as a member of the board of directors since March 2021 and as a member of the board of managers of Cricut Holdings since September 2011. Mr. Makler has served as a Corporate Analyst for Petrus Asset Management Co., or Petrus Asset Management or its predecessors, since March 2002. Mr. Makler holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.B.A. from Yale University.

Ashish Arora has served as our Chief Executive Officer and as the Chief Executive Officer of Cricut Holdings since February 2012. Mr. Arora has also served as a member of our board of directors since March 2021 and as a member of the board of managers of Cricut Holdings since February 2012. From July 2009 to February 2012, he served as the General Manager, Digital Home – Software Platforms and Products for Logitech International S.A., a global manufacturer of computer peripherals and other devices. Mr. Arora holds a B.S. in Electronics Engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology and an M.B.A. from the University of Kansas Graduate School of Business.

Len Blackwell has served as a member of the board of directors since March 2021 and as a member of the board of managers of Cricut Holdings since March 2013. Mr. Blackwell has served as Chairman of Paranet Solutions, a managed services and IT consulting firm, since February 2019. Mr. Blackwell previously served as Managing Director at Sorenson Capital, a private equity firm, from August 2006 to December 2019. Mr. Blackwell served as Chairman of RTC Aerospace, a manufacturer of precision flight-critical components, from August 2017 to January 2020, and remains a board member. Mr. Blackwell served as a board member and subsequently as Chairman of International Development LLC, a lighting products company, from December 2011 until its sale in June 2017. Mr. Blackwell holds a B.A. in Economics from Duke University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder.

Steven Blasnik has served as a member of the board of directors since March 2021 and as a member of the board of managers of Cricut Holdings since February 2018. Mr. Blasnik has served as a Director at the Petrus Trust Company since April 2008 and as Senior Advisor to Petrus Asset Management, the investment management division of Petrus Trust Company, since March 2019. Mr. Blasnik served as President of Petrus Asset Management from April 2008 to March 2019. Mr. Blasnik also served as a member of the board of directors of Perot Systems Corp. from September 1994 to November 2009. Mr. Blasnik holds a B.S.E. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Russell Freeman has served as a member of the board of directors since March 2021 and as a member of the board of managers of Cricut Holdings since September 2015. Since January 2014, Mr. Freeman has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Hillwood Energy and its subsidiary, HKN Energy, for which he also serves as a board member. Mr. Freeman has served on the board of managers of GuideIT, LLC since February 2013. Mr. Freeman has also served as Vice Chairman for the Petrus Trust Company since March 2010, and previously served as its Chief Financial Officer from April 2011 to April 2019. Mr. Freeman previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Perot Systems Corp. from August 2007 to November 2009, and Chief Financial Officer from August 2000 to August 2007. Mr. Freeman holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Texas Tech University.

Melissa Reiff has served as a member of the board of directors since March 2021 and as a member of the board of managers of Cricut Holdings since February 2021. Ms. Reiff has served as Chairwoman of the board of directors of The Container Store Group, Inc. (“TCS”), the nation’s originator and leader of the storage and organization category of retail, since August 2019, as Chief Executive Officer from July 2016 until her retirement in February 2021, as President and Chief Operating Officer from March 2013 to June 2016 and as President from early 2006 to February 2013. Ms. Reiff joined TCS in 1995 as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and assumed the role of Executive Vice President of Stores and Marketing in 2003. She has served on the boards of directors of TCS since August 2007 and Etsy, Inc. since April 2015, where she is also a member of the compensation committee. She is a member of the Dallas chapter of the American Marketing Association, International Women’s Foundation and C200. She also serves on the board of Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business Executive Board and is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Dallas. Ms. Reiff holds a B.S. in Political Science and Law from Southern Methodist University.

Billie Williamson has served as a member of the board of directors since March 2021 and as a member of the board of managers of Cricut Holdings since August 2020. Ms. Williamson has over three decades of experience auditing public companies as an employee and partner of Ernst & Young LLP, a global accounting firm, where she served most recently as Senior Assurance Partner from March 1998 to December 2011. She also served as Ernst & Young’s Americas Inclusiveness Officer, a member of its Americas Executive Board, which functions as the Board of Directors for Ernst & Young dealing with strategic and operational matters, and a member of the Ernst & Young U.S. Executive Board responsible for partnership matters for the firm. Ms. Williamson currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Cushman & Wakefield plc since July 2018, Kraton Corporation since September 2018 and Pentair plc since May 2014. She previously served as a member of the board of directors of numerous public companies including Exelis, Inc., Annie’s Inc., Janus Capital Group Inc., from June 2015 to May 2017, CSRA, Inc. from November 2015 to May 2018, XL Group plc, and Pharos Capital BDC, Inc. from January 2018 to March 2020, as well as on the board of directors of a number of private company boards. Ms. Williamson holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from the Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business.