While Karen Rauch is sad to leave the company she founded and has loved for so many years, she is delighted to welcome Bob and Dawn Ballantyne as the new owners of Southern Decor.

Bob and Dawn bring strong business credentials and extensive personal experience and passion for building and design to Southern Décor.  Over the past 25 years, they have both designed and built new custom houses and managed extensive renovations of homes in Connecticut, Virginia and Florida. They believe this experience will allow them to bring a true client perspective to Southern Decor. They have been married for over 20 years and have made their home in Orlando with their two children, Blake and Isabelle, since 1999.   

		Bob earned both his BA and MBA degrees from the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville.  After graduation in 1978, he joined the IBM Corporation, where he worked until retirement in 2009.  During his long career with IBM, Bob compiled an outstanding record creating and implementing technology based business solutions for both small businesses and large IBM clients like General Foods, PepsiCo and Philip Morris. Bob has served on the School Board of Pine Castle Christian Academy since 2005 and also volunteers in children’s and youth ministries at Pine Castle United Methodist Church and the Lake Nona YMCA.
Bob Ballantyne Managing Member Bob@southerndecorfl.com

Dawn graduated with a BA in Economics from the University of Connecticut in 1986.   She was a successful Realtor in Southern Connecticut from 1984 to 1992 and the owner of her own Tax and Accounting firm in Richmond, Virginia from 1993 through 1999.  For the past 10 years, she has been the Chief Financial Officer of an Orlando based architectural and building products testing company. She has a long time passion for entertaining, decorating, and design and is affectionately known to her wide circle of friends as “Martha.”

In addition to working full time and caring for her family, Dawn has long been committed to helping others in the Orlando community. She has served on the Lake Nona YMCA Board of Directors since 2002, chairing many successful programs including Operation Christmas Child, Celebrate Jesus, and Kids Games. Dawn also helps lead multiple children’s, youth and adult ministry programs for Pine Castle UMC and the Central Florida YMCA.  Her efforts were recognized by the Jefferson Community Service Award in 2005. 

 Darla Sutrich has been an invaluable member of the design team at Southern Décor for over 6 years.  Over the years, she has developed extensive product knowledge of flooring and surfacing materials. She works closely with designers and clients for a wide variety of builders, including Dave Brewer, Inc., Klich Construction, PSG Construction, United Construction, Clair Group, and Clayton Construction. She is also currently assisting a number of clients with their renovation projects.

Darla graduated from Seminole Community College with honors in 2007, receiving her Associates in Science degree in Interior Design along with her Associates degree in Arts.  She and her husband, Nick, were recently married in March, 2008.  She plans to complete her Bachelor's degree at the University of Central Florida while she continues to work at Southern Decor.  Her long term goal is to earn her license and practice Interior Design in both the commercial and residential fields.  "Working for Bob and Dawn at Southern Decor has been a valuable experience for me in my chosen career path."

Karen Rauch was the founder and original owner of Southern Décor, Inc. Her husband is a luxury single family home builder, and together they have both been involved in construction and development since the early 1970’s in Central Florida. Having previously owned a custom residential home building company for 25 years, and working as the primary designer, Karen understood firsthand, builders’, designers’, and homeowners’ needs. In 1998, she opened Southern Décor, Inc. as a design showroom where builders and designers could bring their clients to make their selections for carpet, tile, wood, wallpaper, and natural stone in a relaxed, comfortable high quality environment. Under her leadership, Southern Décor always focused on the importance of staying within budget, processing orders accurately, and delivering materials in a timely manner to accommodate construction schedules.