FurnitureFind.com Announces Appointment of New President and Relocation to Downtown South Bend

Furniture World Magazine

FurnitureFind.com, a fast-growing online furniture retailer that is revolutionizing the way home furnishings are bought in the U.S., has announced the appointment of Kenneth Kwit as president. Also, effective October 25, 2004, the company announced FurnitureFind.com's worldwide headquarters will be located at 311 West Jefferson Blvd. in South Bend, Ind. Lawrence Garatoni, FurnitureFind.com's chief executive officer made the announcements. Prior to joining FurnitureFind.com, Kwit served as CEO of three high-growth, consumer product companies over the past twenty-five years in the furniture, wine, direct marketing and specialty retailing industries. He led a venture-capital backed acquisition and rapid development of Expressions, Inc., a successful manufacturer and retailer ($100M+) of upscale, custom furniture and unique home accessories. Earlier, at Sonoma Vineyards, Kwit developed the company's Windsor Vineyards brand into the nation's largest direct marketing wine business. “FurnitureFind.com is proud and excited that Mr. Kwit has accepted our invitation to lead our seasoned management team,” said Garatoni. “Mr. Kwit's appointment, combined with our move to new headquarters in South Bend, underscores our serious commitment to FurnitureFind.com and its future growth.” Kwit's appointment represents the final piece in the company's recent assembling of a management team highly experienced in furniture, marketing and technology. Over the past nine months, FurnitureFind.com's management changes include: Mary Hunt as Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Roberson as Chief Information Officer, Daryl Kleiman as Vice President of Merchandising and Jim Cook as Call Center Manager. FurnitureFind.com currently employs 60 people and expects to expand their sales force over the next couple of months. Founded in 1996 as the electronic-catalog division of a 50-year-old traditional retail furniture business based in Michigan, FurnitureFind.com has become one of America's largest Internet-based furniture retailers. The company offers a convenient shopping and information channel with access to nearly 7,000 home furnishings products. FurnitureFind.com's state-of-the-art processes for online marketing combined with live sales assistance, unmatched guarantees and national in-home delivery create a unique, “build-to-order” value chain. The company is well funded and privately held by a small group of private investors, including a leading venture capital firm, HQ Venture Capital, focused on assisting companies in using technology to transform their market or industry.