About Averve

Why Averve?

When Averve’s partners formed the nucleus of a new management team, they also sought a new name. Averve became the new moniker because of their shared love of jazz, the Verve Record Label—and because verve means to create with passion.
That passion is defined by their mission statement:

To combine function and beauty in each solution to optimize installation efficiencies while elevating the project’s design aesthetic.

We are proud to know that this mission has been fulfilled on many projects ranging from LA Mission College to the new Kaiser Sand Canyon Hospital to Volvo Dealerships across the country.

We invite you, architect and contractor, to take advantage of our pre-engineered hardware solutions to more cost effectively translate each design concept into an implementable solution. Select from our collections of decorative trim to complete the goals of the design.

Our Founding Principals
Mike Dobija

Mike Dobija

Mike Dobija, a founding principal at Averve, is an awarding winning industrial designer. He has earned the prestigious Good Design from Chicago Museum of Architecture & Design and IIDA Product Design Awards, among many others. As an industrial designer, his solutions have always provided unique solutions to market needs addressing function as well as style.

His career settled in the commercial construction industry first with Masonite R&D, the Commercial Division of Masonite and Integrated Ceilings Inc. In 1984 Mike launched Graphic Insights and began consulting on product design for manufacturers like Marlite, Ready Metal, Chicago Metallic and Formglas. His consulting work also took him to the world of retail chains. He designed merchandising solutions as well as store layouts for companies like Sears, Jack-in-the-Box, Montgomery Wards, Gap, and Black Star and Frost and many others.

This wealth of experience in problem solving and product design is manifest in the development of Averve’s Trimset Collection and the patented Railset System. Projects in healthcare, education, retail, and hospitality provide the essential understanding of product function. As an artist at heart, Mike is always acutely aware of good design which is the basis of the Averve’s product style.

Susan Montonna

Susan Montonna

Susan Montonna joined forces with Mike in 2004 as a founding principal. A 20-year corporate career in various executive management positions groomed her well for the administrative agenda at Averve. It is her responsibility to ensure projects using the Averve products are well managed. Responsive, caring customer service are her hallmarks. That job begins with the education and sampling of the design team and ends with product delivered on time and as designed.