President

Prior to founding Balance in 2004, René Polin led a successful multi-disciplinary product development team at Smartshape Design. Responsible for new business development, project management, and hands-on industrial design work; René facilitated an unprecedented period of growth for this company. His experience creating products for start-up companies with Nottingham-Spirk Design gave René the insight needed to understand the impact of design on business. His 16 + years of varied client experience include relationships with Diebold, Fisher-Price, and Discover Financial Services among others.

René's portfolio includes hundreds of successfully-marketed products as well as multiple utility and design patents. René holds a BFA in Industrial Design from The Cleveland Institute of Art.

“’You can accomplish nothing without balance,’ my father would always tell me.  ‘Everything in this life needs the right amount of balance—push and pull, patience and action...’  It’s this same philosophy of balance that works when applied to any aspect of life and business and why Balance has steadily grown into a nationally-recognized design and development company.”

When Rene isn’t working, he can be found spending time with his family or searching for G.I. Joe artifacts at antique toy shows.