Sam Durgin 1963 –

Sam, a father of six, was born with a club foot. He spent his childhood undergoing one surgery after another. Today, his hobbies include swimming, going to the sauna, flying kites, and riding his custom-made bicycle. After attending a technical high school, he began working at Rifton Equipment, designing products for people with disabilities. In a way, he was already involved in the company as a child:

My dad was one of Rifton’s earliest designers and made me a special chair that allowed me to sit comfortably and concentrate on my school work. Later, during high school, I drew up parts for the products another designer at the company was making. Eventually I became a designer myself, a job I thoroughly enjoy. There is a lot of interaction with therapists and with kids, thinking up solutions, building prototypes, and making improvements.

On one level, Sam’s work is technical: “We use SolidWorks, highly sophisticated modeling software, and a 3D printer.” But designing and manufacturing a winning product demands more than good tools: “It requires passion, a commitment to teamwork, and the readiness to keep learning new things.” Talking about the Rifton Activity Chair, a bestseller he helped design, Sam says: 

We had already garnered all the customer input we could, related to seating. But for this chair, we categorized all the particulars and ranked them on a big spreadsheet so that we could see which issues emerged at the top. We came out of that project having addressed the top thirty-five. It was an enormous effort, but it was worth it. That chair has become a standard seating solution for people with disabilities. It’s now selling around the world.