Meet The Perfumery Team

Brett Nielsen serves as the CEO of The Perfumery, one of the world’s leading suppliers of high-quality essential oils. His core focus at The Perfumery is to help its people and its customers enjoy their experience with our company and to build upon the decades of overall industry excellence the company has become known for. Before joining The Perfumery, Brett spent 8 years in a variety of executive/founding positions with early-stage and hyper-growth companies, typically focusing on growth, strategy, fundraising, and business development. Brett also worked as Deputy to the National Finance Chair, for now, Senator Mitt Romney during his presidential campaign in 2012. Brett holds a B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. in International Relations from King’s College London. In his spare time, Brett can be found hanging out with his wife and kids, reading books, or coaching his kid’s youth football and baseball teams.”

David Pappas serves as the President and Chief of Global Sourcing for The Perfumery, LLC. With decades of experience in distribution and global logistics, and an extensive network of mutually beneficial relationships with farmers, co-operatives, and other key producers across the globe, he is focused on sourcing the highest quality essential oils, ethically and sustainably, while sharing scientific data with and collaborating on projects at the source. Before engagement with The Perfumery, David spent 19 years in wholesale distribution management for a 100MM regional firm with 14 locations, with extensive focus and analytics on forecasting, inventory trending, and optimization. David has also trained extensively under renowned Ph.D. essential oil organic chemist, Dr. Robert Pappas, in the areas of chemistry and composition, qualitative analysis, and the history of essential oils and aromatic/ayurvedic botanicals. In his spare time, David can be found traveling and spending time with his wife and children, attending their many sporting events, raising awareness, and dispelling erroneous information about essential oils on social media.

Jason Scharf serves as the CIO of The Perfumery. His core focus is to provide IT leadership for the Perfumery. Before joining the Perfumery, Jason was a database and system administrator for the University of Louisville (U of L) for almost 15 years. Jason has worked on a range of projects from a service order system for Louisville’s first Macintosh store, a database system for managing U of L’s clinical trials, and a complete rewrite of theperfumery.com. Jason holds a B.S. in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix and is certified as both a FileMaker developer and an AWS Solution Architect. In his spare time he can be found hanging out with his wife, and kids, while simultaneously avoiding working outside."

Mark Stoppert recently join team as the VP of Operations for The Perfumery since April 2022. Prior to joining The Perfumery he has held multiple senior level positions within the cabinet industry where he held operations and P&L roles. Mark has worked to integrate business and operations strategies, lead capital projects, and establish a culture embracing lean manufacturing. Mark received an Industrial Engineering degree and a minor in Business Administration from Bradly University in Peoria Illinois. He enjoys time with family and outdoor activities while camping and boating.

Melissa celebrated her first year with The Perfumery in April of 2022 and loves serving as the Director of Human Resources. While her primary focus is taking care of the team members, she also has a passion for teaching leadership development and communication to current and emerging leaders within the organization. Before joining The Perfumery, Melissa served as the Executive Vice President at a large property management company in Louisville, KY. That experience allows her to bring a more comprehensive approach to the Human Resources department at The Perfumery. Melissa finds pleasure outside of work by embracing the grandparent season of life and spends her free time at awesome places like Chuck E Cheese and Disney on Ice performances.

Tanner Wortham leads the company’s laboratory operations, focusing his efforts on quality, analytical testing, research and development, and product development. His core focus at The Perfumery is to ensure that its customers receive the highest quality products that embody our exemplary standards. Tanner has built his career at The Perfumery, beginning as an Analytical Chemist within the company’s lab and eventually moving on to the laboratory manager, teaching and leading others. He also works as the chief brewing scientist and co-owner of Our Lady of Perpetual Hops Brewing Company that opened in 2019. Tanner holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Indiana University Southeast, graduating at the top of his class. In his spare time, Tanner can be found spending time with his family and friends, playing golf, brewing beer, or hiking.

Dustin Ater serves as the Production Manager at The Perfumery. His core focus at the Perfumery is to make sure the demands and needs of the customers are met while being able to guide the production team with a team first mentality. Prior to joining the Perfumery, Dustin worked as an insurance agent for State Farm as well as having 8+ years in manufacturing. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family and friends, playing golf, watching sports, hiking, and traveling to new places.