Janet Villano is Manager of Innovation & Design at Kaz, Inc., where she uses her experience in strategic product development and consumer research to lead design programs and innovation initiatives in several healthcare categories for the brands: Vicks, Braun and Honeywell. Janet holds a Masters in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and a Bachelors in Marketing from Fairfield University.

Prior to her current position, Janet spent three years building a product design department at Rockwell Group Architects and five years as a Senior Designer at A2 Inc., a product design consultancy specializing in housewares. In these capacities, Janet has worked with companies such as: World Kitchen (Ekco, Via, Cuisinart), Pomerantz, Colgate-Palmolive, Boston Warehouse, Blue Man Group, Barbara K, Mikasa, Meijer stores and Cambridge Silversmiths.

Janet was also founding member of Elseware, and recently ended her 3-year post as Chair of the Housewares section of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). She has juried design competitions for I.D. Magazine, Dyson (Eye for Why) and the International Housewares Association (IHA). She has won several IDEA and I.D. awards for her work, which have appeared in Business Week, Graphis, Artbyte, Architectural Record, Innovation, Intramuros and I.D.