Our Team
The people behind what gets built.
Great retail takes more than a great idea. It takes designers, engineers, merchandisers, makers and problem-solvers who understand how to take that idea all the way from concept to the retail floor. At Tailgate, our team brings creative thinking and technical expertise together under one roof. We collaborate closely, challenge each other constantly, and stay involved through every stage of the process. Because when the people designing it understand how it will be engineered, manufactured and ultimately experienced by the shopper, better work gets built.
Michele Peschelt
Founder & Chief Creative Officer
Michele has spent more than two decades earning something that’s difficult to manufacture: trust.
The kind of trust that turns clients into partners, ideas into long-term relationships, and ambitious concepts into successful retail programs.
Trusted by brands, agencies, retailers, and manufacturing partners alike, Michele has built a reputation for bringing people together around a common goal. She believes the best retail experiences aren’t created through transactions—they’re built through collaboration, shared ownership, and an unwavering commitment to doing what’s right for the client. Known for connecting strategy, creative thinking, engineering, manufacturing, and execution, Michele helps teams navigate complexity with confidence and transform ambitious ideas into retail experiences that perform.
Partnership is the strategy. Trust is the foundation. Michele believes the best work happens when clients, designers, engineers, and manufacturing teams operate as one, united by a shared vision and mutual accountability. Her role is to bring clarity to complexity, align the right people, and create an environment where great ideas can thrive.
For Michele, success isn’t measured by the displays she helps create—it’s measured by the partnerships that continue long after they’re installed. Her goal has always been to be the trusted partner clients call first, rely on most, and want at the table when the next opportunity arises.
Cyrus Royer
Director of Brand Partnerships
Cyrus doesn’t just build client relationships. He builds the trust that turns first conversations into lasting partnerships.
Drawing on an extensive background in commercial real estate and a lifelong appreciation for thoughtful design, Cyrus brings a unique perspective to every client interaction. He understands that great retail programs begin long before the first sketch—by listening carefully, asking the right questions, and aligning the right people around a shared vision. His ability to connect strategy, creativity, and business objectives helps clients move forward with confidence.
Relationships come first. Success follows. Cyrus believes the strongest partnerships are built on trust, transparency, and a genuine commitment to helping clients succeed. He approaches every engagement with curiosity, responsiveness, and the mindset of an extension of the client’s team—not simply a vendor.
The result is more than successful projects. It’s lasting relationships, trusted partnerships, and clients who know they have an advocate invested in their success every step of the way.
Dan Hudson
Director of Brand Experience
Dan doesn’t just design displays. He designs the moment someone decides to stop walking.
As an industrial designer specializing in branded retail environments, Dan bridges imagination and execution, transforming ambitious ideas into retail experiences that don’t just look compelling—they perform in the real world. Every design is informed as much by manufacturing, logistics, installation, and shopper behavior as it is by aesthetics, ensuring every concept is as buildable as it is beautiful.
Beautiful is expected. Performance is earned. Dan believes the strongest retail programs happen when strategy, design, engineering, and manufacturing work as one from the very beginning—not as separate handoffs, but as one continuous conversation. The result is work that earns attention, stands up to production, and performs where it matters most: on the retail floor.