About Us
Soake® Pools: America’s Original Precast Plunge Pool
Soake® Pools is a family-owned-and-operated business, located in the heart of New England. Since 2014, we’ve been manufacturing Soake Pools with an unwavering attention to detail and quality, and the personal touch our customers deserve.
We first fell in love with plunge pools while traveling on vacation, and knew immediately that we wanted to bring this bit of luxury to our home. However, we soon discovered that there was no affordable, high-quality option for plunge pools in our area. So we developed our own manufacturing process, designed to meet the rigors of New England’s climate.
Today, we proudly offer our revolutionary pre-cast pools to all those seeking the many benefits of plunge pools — and a spa-like experience in their own backyard. Start designing yours today!
— Karen and Brian Larson, Founders
Soake® Pools: America’s Original Precast Plunge Pool
Soake® Pools is a family-owned-and-operated business, located in the heart of New England. Since 2014, we’ve been manufacturing Soake Pools with an unwavering attention to detail and quality, and the personal touch our customers deserve.
We first fell in love with plunge pools while traveling on vacation, and knew immediately that we wanted to bring this bit of luxury to our home. However, we soon discovered that there was no affordable, high-quality option for plunge pools in our area. So we developed our own manufacturing process, designed to meet the rigors of New England’s climate.
Today, we proudly offer our revolutionary pre-cast pools to all those seeking the many benefits of plunge pools — and a spa-like experience in their own backyard. Start designing yours today!
— Karen and Brian Larson, Founders
Soake® Pools
Pembroke, NH
603-749-0665
[email protected]
Meet the Team
Behind every Soake Pool we build and deliver is a team of talented, hard-working professionals!
Brian Larson
Co-Founder
Brian spent 30 years in high tech sales and marketing before developing the first Soake Pool in 2013 out of a desire for a plunge pool at his own home. Brian wears many hats at Soake as Co-Founder. In his free time, he enjoys time at his childhood lake cottage and spending time with his family. He loves to smoke brisket and ribs any day of the year!
Karen Larson
Co-Founder
Karen’s background is in textiles and design. She enjoyed working in the interior design field and even owned a chocolate shop at one time. After raising two children, she co-founded Soake Pools with Brian and gets excited by the challenge and variety in each day. She loves to run, swim, and play her guitar in her spare time!
Vicki Perkins
Director of Customer Success
Vicki grew up on the Jersey shore, surfing and playing soccer, and attending Rutgers University as an undergrad. She officially became a New Englander in 2007, earning a Masters in Environmental Education at UNH, then working there in a variety of roles for 14 years. She loves working with people, problem solving, and being part of the motivated Soake team! Vicki spends her free time (what’s that??) with her husband and two super silly little daughters, or sewing/crafting all types of things!
Kristen Stone
National Direct Sales
Kristen has held management positions in finance, non-profit development, fundraising, and retail. She stumbled upon her “dream job” with Soake after a move to the Seacoast area of New Hampshire with her husband in 2019. Kristen enjoys reading on the beach, cooking and hanging out by her own Soake Pool with Rob, her kids, and her three pups.
Derek Sullivan
New England Direct Sales
Derek was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and since coming to the US as a toddler he has lived in Manchester, NH. He has spent over 20 years in the sales industry, and enjoys the camaraderie of working with a team in a sales environment. Derek enjoys beach days with his wife Kaitlin, golfing with friends, and hanging with his dog Louie.
Charles Ciafardo
Mid-Atlantic Sales Account Manager
Prior to coming to Soake Pools, Charles was a bartender at a busy bar in Newark DE for five years. Among his favorite drinks to mix were Long Island Iced Teas and Cosmopolitans. Charles graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in sports management. His love of sports fuels his passion for thrifting and reselling vintage sports apparel or 90s cartoon apparel. He loves skillet cooking, spending time at his childhood lake home in PA, and enjoys working on his Honda Ruckus scooter!
Emma Larson
Mid-Atlantic Sales Account Manager
Emma graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in health sciences. She worked as a med-tech at an urgent care clinic while bartending at night prior to joining Soake Pools. Her hobbies include painting and photography, and she loves to run and work out at the gym. She loves to get away to a lake in VT or go to the Delaware beaches in the summer. Her favorite movie is National Lampoon’s Vacation (the remake), and her favorite foods include Japanese cuisine and Pitaya bowls.
Betsy Larson
Finance
Betsy comes to Soake Pools with a degree in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the University of Arizona. While at UofA, she traveled internationally, and to date Dubai was her favorite destination. During the pandemic, she started a small business selling candles and learned to make homemade bagels. She loves to cook, flip furniture, and spend time with her 3-legged dog Ezzie and husband Corbin.
Sara Ellerbeck
Delivery Coordinator/Office Manager
Sara was born and bred in NH, and came to Soake Pools after many years in the travel industry. She has a college degree in dance, and continues to enjoy movement and meditation through yoga and yoga instruction as an adult. Her dog, Kali, enjoys long runs with her each morning. Though Sara has traveled many places, Scotland and the British Isles are still on her bucket list!
Chris Longey
Director of Operations
Chris brings a wealth of knowledge around logistics and operations to Soake Pools from his many years of experience in pharmaceutical logistics. Chris has two daughters, a wife and 16 animals, including everything from lizards to chickens. Chris spent some time away from NH when he joined the Marine Corps and was stationed in California where he learned the art of underwater welding. In his spare time he enjoys restoring cars. He and his daughters are currently restoring a 1972 Chevy Nova. He also loves to garden. His favorite flower? The Rose of Sharon (cousin to the Hibiscus).
Steve McLeod
Director of Services
Steve spent many years running his own business in the audiovisual industry with clients that included Harvard and MIT. He brings a wealth of technical knowledge to Soake and loves to be out in the field meeting customers. In his spare time you’ll find him on Lake Winnepesauke waterskiing with his family or cooking pizza in his new pizza oven that he built himself!
Cindy Bradshaw
Inside Customer Success and Support
Cindy starts her day getting her two energetic and constantly-hungry boys off to school! After a full day of interacting with Soake customers, she can be found cheering her boys on at their soccer games or with her family at the beach. Her extensive background in wine & spirit sales provided her with many skills relevant to excellent customer service!
John Bradshaw
Technical Customer Service
John grew up in NH with a serious love of the outdoors. His background as a free skiing, road-race-driving, mountain biking, mad scientist combined make him the “swiss army knife” of pool guys. He absolutely loves working with our customers, from the pool sale right through to start up and technical support. When he’s not being dragged off on a crazy adventure by his two boys, John can be found at home cooking fancy food and hanging out in his own Soake Pool with his wife, Cindy!
John Desbiens
Inside Technical Support
When he’s not hard at work loading pools at Soake Pools headquarters, you can find John strumming his acoustic Fender or playing his drums. Born and bred in Concord NH, John loves to attend concerts or hang out at the beach. He is newly engaged and has a puppy named Stella. New Zealand is on his list of destinations.
Shauna Stevener
Inside Technical Support
Shauna comes to Soake with years of experience in insurance inspections and insulation application and permitting. She’s coached many sports including softball and soccer. She loves family time at the beach with her husband, daughters and two German Shepherd Huskies. Her future travel plans include mudlarking in the River Thames in London!
Austin Crawley
Warehouse Associate
Austin comes to Soake Pools with extensive technical abilities after working for 7 years in the auto repair industry. His talent in working on all-things mechanical spills over into his personal life where he uses his skills to trick out his own off-road trucks, dirt bikes and remote control cars. He once had a remote control car up to 86 mph! In his other spare time, he loves to camp, hunt and fish. His favorite fish to catch and eat? Brook trout!
Saint-Michael Olivier
Tile Artisan
Sai grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire. He came to Soake Pools from a background in the food industry, where he has worked in grocery retail and the restaurant business. His training in tiling began and continues at Soake Pools, and his attention to detail is superb. Sai’s love of music keeps him busy when he’s not tiling. He creates his own beats and lyrics, and he’s been performing his own hip-hop/rap since he was thirteen years old. He can often found on a skateboard as well!
Brad Olivier
Tile Artisan
Brad is a NH native who enjoys working on cars, his Harley Dyna, and he also builds his own computers and video games. He comes to Soake Pools with a background in precast concrete, but found his passion in tiling pools. He loves spicy food- especially tacos or curry. In his time off, he loves to spend time at a lake with his two daughters and wife. Brad is a trivia buff and knows a multitude of random facts… like the little dots on dice are called “pips”.
Randy Arnold
Tile Artisan
Randy was born and raised in New Hampshire, and he spent many years in both Texas and Oklahoma. He fell in love with the Wichita Mountains, while as a young adult, he lived on a reservation in Oklahoma and was trained as a carpenter. One day he plans to visit Oklahoma again and do some more rock climbing. Randy is a skilled tile artisan and tiles many of the pools that leave our facility. Look for his signature on yours!
“From Day 1 and throughout the entire process Karen and her team were the consummate professionals. They were transparent, responsive, and flexible.”
– Steve V.
