About Premier Needle Arts
The Premier Needle Arts family of companies offer four leading, top-of-mind consumer brands with more than 30,000 products, which are either self-manufactured, or are sourced from the highest quality manufacturers around the globe. Today, our brands are sold directly through our own consumer sites, Amazon, distributors, and thousands of local retail partners.
We employ more than 200+ team members, located in 8 states and two countries. These team members are dedicated to passionate innovation, with emphasis on ease of use and high quality. Education, training, and inspiration go hand-in-hand with providing the best tools and products to support our customers’ creative endeavors. Each day, you will find our team focused on designing, creating, manufacturing, and delivering products to our passionate makers around the globe.
Premier Needle Arts is located in North Salt Lake, UT and is proud to be part of Blue Point Capital Partners family. To learn more about our companies and brands, please visit them at their corresponding websites.
The Crafts Group (Vancouver, WA) is a leading supplier of consumable products used in various enthusiast markets, including knitting, quilting, and crochet.
Crafts Group Distribution (Columbus, OH) Ohio-based distribution center provides fulfillment services for Crafts Group and our partner company, Superior Threads.
Berroco Facility (North Smithfield, RI) Leading supplier of knitting and crochet yarns and patterns serving Local Yarn Shops (LYS) and e-commerce retailers.
Leadership
Veronica Collins, Chief Executive Officer
Veronica Collins is the CEO of Premier Needle Arts. A seasoned ecommerce leader, Veronica has also focused on scaling tech enabled consumer companies across industries both organically and through targeted M&A. Previously, Veronica worked for an Amazon company driving marketing and growth and most recently served as an executive at venture backed start-ups in the home and luxury space.
Prior to Amazon, Veronica worked for the management consulting firm Bain & Company and received her MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, after being awarded a Joseph Wharton Scholarship. Veronica started her career as an art specialist at global auction houses Christie’s and Phillips, focused on Contemporary art from emerging markets. Veronica resides in Denver, CO where she enjoys art, crafting and outdoor activities with her husband and two children.
Salwa Khan, Chief Financial Officer
Salwa Khan is Chief Financial Officer at Local Crafts Group. With over a decade of experience in corporate finance, she has specialized in financial strategy, analytics, and operations at women’s specialty retail companies including Kendra Scott, ANN INC. and Katie Kime. She also founded Cubbiekit, a zero-waste baby clothing subscription service designed to simplify parenting while promoting sustainability. Her mission-driven approach led to partnerships with charitable organizations that support new families and help reduce textile waste, such as Partners in Parenting and Green City Recycler.
Prior to working in the direct-to-consumer space, Salwa began her career in accounting with PwC and KPMG. She holds both a Master of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School. She lives in Austin, TX, where she enjoys traveling, painting, watching films, and paddle boarding with her husband and two children.
Laura Zander, Chief Brand Officer
Laura Zander is the co-founder of Jimmy Beans Wool and the Chief Brand Officer of LocalCrafts. Over the past two decades, she has built and acquired some of the most beloved brands in the fiber world—including della Q, Madelinetosh, Dream in Color, and Shibui —all while staying grounded in her mission to uplift local yarn shops, support independent designers, and champion community-centered crafting.
A former software engineer turned serial entrepreneur, Laura is known for her bold ideas, collaborative spirit, and deep connection to customers. Her leadership blends strategic thinking with a heart for storytelling, always prioritizing the experience behind the product.
Named USA Today’s Woman of the Year in 2025, Laura now leads brand vision and strategy across the LocalCrafts portfolio, ensuring each brand grows with integrity, creativity, and a deep respect for its roots.
Laura lives in Reno, Nevada with her husband and longtime business partner, Doug, and their teenage son Huck—an aspiring powerlifter. When she’s not building brands, you can find her hiking the Lake Tahoe mountains, buried in a business book, or popping into local yarn shops for inspiration (and maybe just one more skein).
Kara Tripp, Senior VP, Operations
Kara has a natural talent for nurturing both people and culture. Joining Crafts Americana Group (CAG) in September of 2008, she brought her background and expertise in warehouse and people management. Over the years Kara has held various management positions within CAG/PNA and was elevated to Vice President of Operations for the DTC brands in 2018, increasing her responsibility and oversight. Kara’s current role and responsibility is for purchasing, inventory management, and warehouse management, including all light assembly functions within the Columbus facility. Her focused leadership continues to build a highly engaged, continuous improvement minded team. With Kara’s oversight, new projects, process, and implementation work to drive efficiency, including a major warehouse automation initiative (Fall 2020) to facilitate growth and efficiency for the direct to consumer brands.
Kara holds a bachelor of arts from Grace College where she also participated in athletics, holding records in both basketball and softball. Kara’s interests include running, with 1 road and 2 trail marathons under her belt, weekend hikes in the hills of Southeast Ohio with her dogs, boating, and spending time with her wife and friends.
Jan Hurwitz, GM/VP, Distribution
Jan assumed her leadership role at Berroco in September 2022, following the retirements of longtime Berroco founders Warren and Caroline Wheelock. She first served as Berroco’s inaugural Director of Sales & Customer Experience.
Jan brings to Berroco deep experience from every stitch and seam of the yarn industry. She’s been a successful yarn store owner, knitwear designer, independent sales rep and corporate sales executive. About that last, she was National Sales Director at Coats Crafts America and North American VP Sales & Operations at the DMC Group. She’s also an avid and talented knitter, a surprise to no one.
Jan holds a BA in Business/Marketing from Michigan State University and began her business career with Silicon Valley software companies, where her accomplishments are many and varied. In particular, she specialized in building global support teams for high-growth start-ups.
Jan resides in Carmel Valley, CA with her husband and their son resides in nearby San Jose. Their yellow lab and tabby cat round out the crew. In addition to knitting, she enjoys hiking the nearby woods and beaches and cooking with local produce.