Serta Simmons Bedding Announces Leadership Changes, Streamlines Organization Structure
Furniture World News Desk on
4/6/2021
Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB) recently announced organizational enhancements, including changes to its leadership team, as part of its transformation and growth strategy. Most notably, Melanie Huet (formerly Chief Marketing Officer and EVP of Marketing and Innovation) will take on the role of Chief Commercial Officer for SSB, and Shelley Huff (formerly CEO of Tuft & Needle, EVP of Direct to Consumer) will become SSB’s Chief Operating Officer. Huet and Huff will maintain their former titles of Chief Marketing Officer and CEO of Tuft & Needle, respectively, continue to serve on the company’s executive leadership team, and report to SSB Chairman and CEO David Swift.
“We are relentless in our pursuit of helping people sleep better through consumer-inspired innovation, a digital-first mindset, our commitment to exceptional service and an outstanding team who always strives to set the bar higher,” said David Swift, Chairman and CEO of Serta Simmons Bedding. “Both Melanie and Shelley have made a tremendous impact on our business in their time with the company. I look forward to partnering with them as we continue in that pursuit and accelerate our strategy for growth.”
Huet has been instrumental in developing SSB’s portfolio of brands over the last two years and has led the company’s transformation to a consumer-centric organization. As Chief Commercial Officer, she will lead an expanded, unified team which brings together sales, marketing and innovation functions. She will work in partnership with Chief Sales Officer Derek Miller to accelerate eCommerce growth, strengthen SSB’s omnichannel approach and increase speed to market. Huet joined SSB in 2019 after spending time in a variety of marketing and sales roles with The Kraft Heinz Company, Kimberly-Clark and Unilever.
Huff has played a critical role in building the SSB’s direct to consumer (DTC) business across its portfolio of brands and growing the Tuft & Needle brand. As Chief Operating Officer, she will oversee the company’s supply chain and enterprise-wide customer experience teams, and will continue to lead the company’s (DTC) business and the Tuft & Needle brand. Under Huff’s leadership, this expanded Operations team will bolster the company’s digital-first mindset and better leverage data and technology to drive growth across the business. Huff joined SSB in July 2020 as CEO of Tuft & Needle and EVP of DTC after serving in a number of leadership roles across Walmart U.S. and Walmart eCommerce, including as President and CEO of Hayneedle.com.
Bob Hellyer, formerly Chief Supply Chain Officer, will take on a new role as EVP of Strategic Initiatives designed to leverage his deep industry expertise and strong relationships throughout SSB’s value chain. He will also support the Commercial team in accelerating breakthrough innovation.
The digital-first approach that underpins the company’s customer-focused growth strategy requires fostering, harnessing and elevating the talent of existing team members, as well as recruiting new talent in key roles. Two new executives will join Huff’s Operations team to continue to drive SSB’s digital transformation forward:
Cream Pepito joins SSB as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for DTC responsible for leading the technology strategy for SSB's DTC business, inclusive of platform and marketing technology. Pepito most recently worked with Northwestern Mutual where she led high performing teams responsible for their technology solutions. Pepito has extensive experience leading various technology-enabled transformations for companies in financial services, fin tech, logistics and manufacturing.
Bhavani Subramaniam joins SSB as Senior Vice President, Integrated Supply Chain, and is responsible for the company’s DTC supply chain, enterprise logistics and warehousing, as well as Sales & Operational Planning. Subramaniam joins SSB with more than 20 years’ experience in strategic and operational supply chain leadership roles in the retail and CPG industries, most recently with Walmart.
About Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC: Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC is a leading sleep company and one of the largest manufacturers, marketers and suppliers of mattresses and sleep solutions in North America. Based in Atlanta, SSB owns and manages two of the best-selling bedding brands in the mattress industry: Serta®, which has five other independent licensees, and Beautyrest®. The brands are distributed through national, hospitality, and regional and independent retail channels throughout North America. SSB also owns Simmons® and Tuft & Needle® direct-to-consumer mattress brands. SSB operates 27 plants in the U.S. and Canada. For more information about SSB and its brands, visit www.sertasimmons.com.