Meet Our Team

Dana Brown

When clients walk into the showroom at Brown, Dana Brown wants them to feel as though they’re entering into her own home—welcomed, comfortable and part of the family.

That’s because design has always been a family affair for her. Back in high school when she first began dating Steve, his family was in the furniture business even then. She spent the next few decades building Brown alongside him, buying products for the showroom and helping designers source, price and purchase lines for their projects. Always on the lookout for inspiration, she attends High Point Market, scours trade journals, and constantly has an eye on the latest color or fabric trend. With new innovations in textiles, surfaces, wallpaper and furniture, she loves implementing her finds into the showroom floor, all while she tends to her role as president of the company.

Jayson Friedman

Chief Executive Officer

Jayson Friedman grew up in the furniture industry, constantly surrounded by furnishings, fabrics and accessories. So he brings a solid foundation of experience and expertise to his post as CEO of Brown as he plans, implements and integrates the strategic direction of the business.

Since celebrating the firm’s 40th anniversary, the team has reinvigorated its commitment to its clients through determination, creativity and a promise of excellence. Paramount to that promise is creating a memorable experience for each client. That’s why Jayson initiated the major redesign of the brand, showroom and design center.

Jayson graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science in marketing and is a member of the CEO group Vistage, where he continues to network and learn the best practices for serving Brown and its clients. If you’re in the market for design services, whether it’s simply one room or an entire home, it’s his priority to ensure you needn’t look any further than Brown.

Woman sitting on a couch in a modern home, smiling.

As an established interior designer and Project Manager for 25 years, Jennifer has successfully completed hundreds of prominent retail, commercial, multi-family and hospitality projects around the world. This includes luxury malls and plazas, department stores, retail boutiques, Yacht clubs, restaurants and bars, sales and design centers, resorts, golf and country clubs.

Jennifer has worked with many of South Florida’s premier design firms and has received some of the industry’s most prestigious awards and honors. Accolades include Aurora Awards, Best Awards, Excel Awards, Pinnacle Awards and Prism Awards, among others.

Jennifer received a degree in Visual & Interior Design from Lynn University in 1995. By fusing this educational background of interior design, graphic design and photography, along with a network of esteemed vendors and manufacturers, Jennifer brings a unique perspective to each project. She is an active member of the American Society of American Designers (ASID) and Network of Executive Women in Hospitality (NEWH).

Prior to joining Brown, Jennifer served as Senior Project Manager / Account Manager at ID & Design International in Fort Lauderdale and President of JennMar Designs in Delray Beach. She was also Director of Production for the CADD Department at The Interiors Group in Boca Raton and Project Manager at Pavlik Design Team in Fort Lauderdale.

Senior woman sitting on sofa, smiling, in a cozy, styled interior.

Jody Petiya

Director of Residential Design

With almost 30 years under her belt at Brown, Jody Petiya, ASID, has spent the last two years settling into her position as director of interior design. In her post, she’s the first stop when new clients seek out Brown’s services. Since everyone at the firm has his or her own style and approach, Jody speaks to homeowners about their needs and the scope of the project, so that she can pair them with the appropriate designer to create their custom dream house. What follows is a collaboration of ideas and inspirations that aim to fulfill Brown’s mission to enhance the lives and lift the spirits of the people they work with and to make their homes a safe haven.

Jody’s ability to take a project seamlessly from construction through completion—carefully considering the architecture, interior detailing, furnishings, and the environment—has been preparing her for this role ever since she first began her interior design studies in college, where she was constantly surrounded by students in all areas of design and construction. This laid the foundation early on for her talent in working with architects, landscape architects, and general contractors.

Jody has been a licensed interior designer in the state of Florida since 1982 and earned a Bachelor’s degree in interior design from the University of Florida’s College of Architecture. She is a member of ASID and keeps current with the latest trends and newest products by frequenting High Point Market, and continues to exercise her passions for healthy environments, green design, and Feng Shui. Filled with wanderlust, she travels as often as she can (barring global pandemics), so there’s no shortage of inspiration to bring back to her clients.

Laurie Carney

Chief Financial Officer

As Chief Financial Officer, Laurie oversees all aspects of the accounting department, ensuring the firm’s financial health, strategic growth, and long-term stability. With over 40 years of experience working in accounting roles for design-focused companies, she brings a deep understanding of both the business and creative sides of the industry. After spending many years in a larger Design business, she values the close-knit, family-oriented culture of Brown Design Group.

Her appreciation for design is shaped by decades spent supporting the teams who bring beautiful spaces to life. Personally, she gravitates toward a comfortable, lived-in style—one that emphasizes warmth, functionality, and the joy of being at home. That same love of comfort shows up in her favorite “furniture alter ego”: a patio chair, chosen for its reminder to slow down and enjoy the outdoors.

Beyond the office, she is fueled by coffee, inspired by travel, and happiest sharing wine and pasta with the people she loves. Her most memorable destination is her honeymoon—an experience that marked the beginning of a new chapter that has now spanned 33 years. Her greatest pride isn’t a possession at all, but her son, whom she describes as a smart, honest, and successful man.

Whether she’s managing financial strategy, watching her latest binge-worthy show, or reaching for the lip gloss she always carries, she brings balance, dedication, and heart to everything she does. If given the chance to host six dinner guests, she would choose her parents, siblings, and grandparents—honoring the family roots that continue to shape her life and leadership today.

Ana Nassar

Interior Designer

Ana is a passionate and driven residential interior designer and civil engineer originally from Venezuela. In addition to designing contemporary and traditional living spaces with a Latin-inspired spirit, she brings two decades of experience as a construction project manager to help achieve flawless results.

Ana was lucky to realize her passion for architecture and design as a young child. After working as a civil engineer for more than 15 years, she decided to pursue a degree in Interior Design and make the transition to creative professional.

Ana joined Brown Design Group in 2019, supporting the company with her well-trained eye for high-quality furnishings and textiles. Today, she continues to be recognized for her crisp, timeless style. Beyond her skill for designing spaces, she specializes in every phase of remodeling and new construction.

Ana believes that a connection with the client is the key to a successful project. She works hard to clearly identify stylistic desires in order to give each project a unique identity and exceed all expectations. In fact, for Ana, the most satisfying part of the process is the ability to understand her clients’ dreams and make them a reality.

Brielle Cheff

Project Manager

With nearly a decade of experience in the design industry, Brielle brings a refined balance of creativity and technical expertise to every project she touches. Her role as Project Manager seamlessly blends design development with comprehensive project management—guiding clients through selections, producing detailed design documents, coordinating with vendors and trades, and ensuring that each project’s vision is executed with precision in the field.

Brielle discovered her passion for interior design shortly after relocating from New Jersey to Florida, where she began her career in Naples and quickly fell in love with the craft. After moving to the East Coast, she was drawn to Brown Design Group for its ability to produce exceptional work while maintaining the warmth and integrity of a family-owned firm. Being part of a team rooted in collaboration, creativity, and craftsmanship continues to be a source of gratitude and inspiration for her.

Her personal design style leans toward modern organic—clean, neutral, and effortlessly layered. She gravitates toward calm palettes, natural textures, and thoughtful details that add depth without overwhelming a space. For Brielle, inspiration comes from everywhere: art, food, travel, nature, and anything that allows her to work with her hands. She believes beauty is always present—we just have to slow down long enough to notice it.

Outside of work, you can usually find her enjoying a strong espresso, planning her next creative project, or spending time with her most prized possession: her puppy, Frankie. She loves tacos, never leaves home without her headphones and a notebook.

Whether she’s sourcing the perfect material, shaping a concept, or bringing a design to life on site, Brielle approaches each project with care, curiosity, and a genuine love for creating beautiful, meaningful spaces.

Claudia Perez

Design Assistant

Claudia Pérez is an internationally trained interior designer whose work blends refined comfort with thoughtful planning. Originally from Venezuela, she has lived in France and Italy—experiences that expanded her creative perspective and shaped her sensitivity to culture, craftsmanship, and design history. She holds a Master’s degree in Interior Design from the Scuola Politecnica di Design in Milan.

Her passion for interiors began early while spending summers in her grandfather’s architecture firm, where she learned design concepts and the importance of staying curious. Throughout her career, Claudia has developed a strong foundation in residential design, with particular interest in custom millwork, space planning, professional organizing, and staging. These areas have sharpened her strategic thinking and her ability to guide clients through detailed phases of the design process.

At Brown Design Group, Claudia supports the design team across conceptual development, millwork design, FF&E selections, and final styling. Drawn to neutral palettes, textured layers, and meaningful pieces, she believes every home is a mosaic of personal stories—past, present, and evolving.

Modern woman sitting on a white sofa in an art-filled living room, smiling, representing interior design and home comfort.

Holly Fortunato

Interior Designer

With a penchant for beautiful fabrics, balanced proportions, and comfortable, yet luxurious touches, Holly has been an interior designer at Brown for 30 years, creating interiors filled with warmth and reasons to linger.

With off-limit areas of a house becoming a thing of the past, she works to ensure that her clients can truly live in every inch of their homes, including their outdoor spaces. Drawing inspiration from her clients’ lifestyles, interests and any supporting elements — from the ocean in their backyard to a memory of a favorite destination — Holly begins to build a comfortable environment, considering the architecture, scale, lighting, texture and function of a space. But perhaps one of her most favorite parts of a project is reallocating those functions — rethinking and reshaping areas to be something different from what they once were. Whether she is designing a small apartment on the water or a large estate on 10 acre s of land, she welcomes challenges that allow her to think outside of the box.

Thanks to her seemingly easy ability to create spaces that are all at once bold and effortless, Holly has garnered an extensive roster of clients thanks to her attention to detail and ability to create spaces that are traditional, contemporary or transitional and perhaps most importantly, a perfect representation of her clients.

Jessica Amaral

Interior Designer

Interior designer Jessica Amaral started out as an artist. When connecting with designers to sell her work, she became enamoured with the way they would treat an interior as a blank canvas—creating something for others to live in by turning that blank canvas into an entirely new interactive experience. Twenty-five years later, she looks to her background in art, both formally and intuitively, as a foundation for how she approaches design at Brown, whether it’s the art history she studied, the college art classes she taught, or the sensory experience created through installation art that she tries to emulate through everyday living environments.

Inspired by the way color and form work so well together when it comes to Mother Nature—sequoia trees in the mountains of California, the cliffs meeting the ocean in Portugal—Jessica is drawn to textured, natural materials and neutral tones punctuated by bold hues. But her clients give her the most informative cues, as she not only listens to their needs and wants but also observes what they’re wearing and what their mannerisms tell her without even speaking. This results in a design that marries aesthetics, feels personalized to the client, and never goes out of style. Kind of like a good painting.

Khyeria Hall

Project Manager

As a Project Manager, Khyeria Hall guides each design project from the earliest concept to the final installation, ensuring a seamless and thoughtful experience for every client. She collaborates closely with contractors, vendors, and clients to uphold timelines, maintain design integrity, and deliver results rooted in quality and meticulous attention to detail.

With three years of experience in the design industry and a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental and Interior Design from Syracuse University, she brings a passion for creating spaces that are functional, welcoming, and visually compelling. Her interest in design began early; rearranging her childhood bedroom and discovering how color, layout, and small details could transform the feeling of a space. That early curiosity grew into a career driven by a love for environments that shape how people live, feel, and interact.

She was drawn to Brown Design Group for its commitment to thoughtful, client-centered design and the opportunity to work on projects that balance creativity with purpose. Her personal design style blends clean, functional foundations with unexpected pops of color that add personality, warmth, and energy – resulting in spaces that feel inviting, balanced, and engaging.

Outside of work, she’s a honey-vanilla-chamomile-tea enthusiast, a lover of Lake Como, and someone who’s never without lip gloss and her AirPods. Her inspiration comes from many places: global travel, which introduces new palettes, textures, and cultural perspectives; fashion, with its emphasis on layering, detail, and bold accents; and food and hospitality, which influence her approach to comfort, flow, and the overall experience of a space.

Senior woman smiling in professional dress at Brown Design Group office, showcasing interior design expertise.

Pam Nadler

Interior Designer

When it comes to the perfect recipe for her interiors, Pam Nadler doesn’t flinch at naming the best ingredients: equal parts form and function. Employing color, texture and space planning, she cooks up a complete design that is functional and aesthetically pleasing.

This flair for well-done interiors comes innately to her: Having grown up in the furniture business helping her father, design is part of Pam’ s DNA. Her brother, Steve Brown, started Brown in 1976, and it was a natural fit for her to learn alongside him. Today, family is as much a part of design for her as it was back then, as you’ ll find her working alongside her sister-in-law and Owner, Dana Brown, and niece and Director of Marketing, Susan Brown Siegel.

Pam applies her collaborative nature to all of her design projects, working as a team with the architect, contractor and the client from the start. She believes that communication, attention to detail, and budget consciousness are all catalysts to a project’ s success.

Pam describes her own style as a bit funky with timeless elements woven in, but when it comes to designing for others, she listens to her clients’ wishes, helps them define their own unique style and creates an environment that reflects their personality and way of life. So much so, that her clients often become lasting friends, inviting her back time and time again to renovate, redecorate and transform their space

Elegant woman sitting on a couch inside a modern home, promoting interior design excellence.

Patty Hubbel

Interior Designer

Known for her interiors that are refined and exude a certain level of sophistication, Patty Hubbel practices delivering polished design concepts with touches of surprises woven throughout — attractive ceiling details, custom built-ins, and visually stunning art groupings are all just a few details that Patty considers hallmarks of her projects. Having graduated at the top of her class at Patricia Stevens College in St. Louis, Missouri, Patty’s interior design career spans two decades, where she has worked on both residential and commercial projects.

Though designing a home is a multi-layered process — from inspirations to floor plans to design schemes and changes along the way — Patty strives to make the experience a fun and enjoyable one. By listening to what her clients love and how they want to feel in their homes or businesses, she creates interiors that reflect the owners’ taste, personality and lifestyle. Texture, lighting, scale, balance, form, and function are all key elements when it comes to curating the perfect room.

Patty’s passion for design is further matched by her love of art and fashion. Whether she’s infusing neutrals with pops of color, mixing metals, or injecting cool tones into warm palettes, her elegant designs always take on a fresh twist.

Makeda Ferraro

Interior Designer

Claudia Lujan

Senior Commercial Designer

As a Commercial and Residential Interior Designer for more than 20 years, Claudia offers an experienced eye for quality, superior sense of style, and extensive knowledge, for interiors that are as unique as they are timeless and functional.

Claudia’s distinctive work can be found in client properties across the U.S. and in locations around the world. She is passionate about creating all-encompassing, functional, timeless and highly customized interiors, with an emphasis on detail and quality.

As a practitioner, she offers a balance of creativity, collaboration and forward thinking, with a structured, organized and detailed approach that enables her to follow through and deliver exceptional results across every aspect of her designs.

Claudia is passionate about design and believes that great interiors, whether personal or commercial, begin with a comprehensive understanding of a client’s needs and expectations. After two decades, her ability to forge strong client relationships based on respect, trust and confidence is key to her success as a designer. She is also highly skilled at achieving beautiful results regardless of a project’s budget, style, timeframe and unique requirements.

Claudia ‘s project portfolio boasts a diversity of work across completed projects, including multifamily rental communities, hotels, restaurants, condominium developments and luxury residential.

She earned both her Associate’s Degree in Business Administration and B.A. in Interior Design at Florida International University. Throughout her career, Claudia has had the privilege of working closely with talented designers, architects, tradespeople and fabricators who value quality, authenticity and innovation as much as she does.

Elegant woman wearing glasses, professional interior design work, Brown Design Group branding.

Anisha Sutar

Commercial Designer

With a strong passion for design and a natural ability to hone in on the smallest details that bring a space to life, Anisha believes in creating interiors that hold aesthetics, function and wellness in perfect balance.

She launched her career in 2013 as an architectural designer before transitioning to interior design, where her dedication to the craft has earned her a reputation as a skilled and innovative designer. Anisha possesses a strong foundation in all aspects of interior design and architecture, including project management, creative collaboration, and a keen ability to integrate client ideas into her designs, resulting in uniquely personalized spaces.

Anisha graduated from Boston Architectural College in 2018 with a master’s degree in interior architecture. Prior to joining Brown, she worked for Nicole Hogarty Designs, where she was involved in several award-winning projects in Boston, Cape Cod and the surrounding islands, several of which were featured in national and global publications.

Her personal design style could be described as modern-contemporary meets organic, with a relaxed yet sophisticated aesthetic inspired by her global travels. Anisha deeply enjoys the opportunity to create beautiful design solutions that enrich a space both aesthetically and functionally, and she strives to incorporate new technologies, materials and concepts into her ever-evolving practice.

Outside of the office, Anisha enjoys exploring new design concepts and traveling to find inspiration from different cultures and environments around the world.

Carlos Agudelo

Senior Brand Designer

Naomi Demers

Design Studio Director

Robin Rosenthal

Project Facilitator

Marjorie Batschauer

Project Manager

Lisa Loughlin

Office Manager

With more than 30 years at Brown Design Group—and a lifetime spent sewing, crafting, and creating—Lisa brings a rare combination of efficiency, creativity, and heart to her role as Office Manager. Known in the studio as the person who “makes things happen,” she thrives on keeping operations running seamlessly and stepping in to handle anything that needs to be done right now.

Her path to the firm was a natural evolution of her talents. After years as a Branch Manager in banking, transitioning into office management within a creative environment felt effortless. A friend introduced her to the firm, and the moment an opportunity opened, she jumped in—combining her organizational expertise with her lifelong passion for design.

Creativity has always been at the center of her life. From sewing clothes, pillows, and curtains as a child to exploring painting, fused glass art, and all forms of crafting as an adult, she finds joy in making beautiful things with her hands. Her natural creativity gives her an appreciation for the Design Industry while her background in banking and finance allows her to understand and support the business side of the company.

Beyond the office, you’ll often find her sipping a Dunkin’ coffee (or a Starbucks Gingerbread Latte during the holidays), binge-watching her favorite shows, or spending time with her most prized possession—her dog, Phoebe. She has a soft spot for oversized bean bag chairs, a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, and unforgettable trips like the Grand Canyon.

Her mix of dependability, warmth, and creative energy makes her an essential part of the team—and the person everyone turns to when they need something done with purpose and a smile.