At an early age, David Littman saw how beauty could transform your experience of the everyday. His mother had a passion for antiques, and he would join her ‘treasure hunts’ for them, learning about quality and the importance of details along the way. An aesthetic person, David carried this insight into a pursuit of excellence with the lighting company he created in the 1980s. With an infectious enthusiasm for the intersecting worlds of art, business, and design, David’s entrepreneurial spirit presided over nearly four decades of growth and recognition for his company, Hudson Valley Lighting, and the companies he acquired and revitalized in the early 2000s: Corbett Lighting and Troy Lighting. With the creation of Mitzi by HVL and the construction of new facilities in recent years, David is not sitting behind a desk as Founder and President, but remains heavily involved in the day-to-day operations and long-term vision of the Hudson Valley Lighting Group.

A Lighting Family
David's history in lighting actually dates back many years before his own birth. In 1939, William Littman, a Brooklyn-based inventor and David's grandfather, was greatly inspired by the fluorescent lighting introduced to the mainstream building industry at the New York World's Fair. By 1947, what began as a garage-based business had grown substantially and the Littman family moved upstate to expand operations in the Hudson River Valley. David's own apprenticeship to the lighting industry began when he was in high school and started working in the warehouse of his father's commercial lighting factory. Though David soon moved to Boston to attend BU and earn a Bachelor's in Accounting, he returned each summer to resume duties in the family business. After graduating from George Washington in 1985 with an MBA in finance, David decided to come home and build his career in Orange County. At only twenty-three, David took the helm of his own business in the Newburgh, NY location where Hudson Valley Lighting continued to reside for the next three decades before moving to Wappingers Falls.