A DUNFERMLINE man was a high-profile member of the podium party at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as its iconic opening bell was rung to celebrate the listing of a global small-domestic-appliance company.

Ross Richardson, who is chief design officer of SharkNinja, celebrated the occasion with colleagues this week after the Boston-based firm built two multi-billion-dollar brands over 27 product categories.

He said the milestone was a "testament" to the team’s commitment to solving consumer problems that others don’t see or are unable to solve.

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He added: “I was honoured to have been part of this incredible day and proud to have been able to share this with my son, Daniel.”

Mr Richardson – whose parents and extended family members live in Dunfermline – is a former depute head boy of Dunfermline High School and an alumni of Glasgow School of Art and The University of Glasgow, from which he graduated in 1998 with a first-class honours degree in Product Design Engineering.

Married with a 14-year-old son, he joined SharkNinja in 2015 after wide-ranging research and development experience with Scottish and international companies across the domestic-appliance and oil-and-gas sectors.

After his appointment as director of new product development in the firm’s London office, he relocated to the United States in 2016 on promotion to senior executive positions in the company’s Needham HQ. He was appointed chief design officer in January this year.

Mr Richardson also lectures at New England universities, with whom SharkNinja has intern relationships across the engineering and design disciplines.