Furniture Brands International Announces Consolidation of Operations At Drexel Heritage, Maitland Smith and Henredon

Furniture World Magazine

Furniture Brands International, announced that the operations of Henredon, Drexel Heritage, and Maitland-Smith will be consolidated into one reporting structure under the leadership of Jeff Young. Jeff Young, currently Chief Executive Officer of Drexel Heritage, and four other members of the Drexel Heritage senior management team have now been moved to HDM Furniture Industries to oversee the combined operations of Henredon, Drexel Heritage and Maitland-Smith. Mr. Young will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of HDM, and he will continue in his current role as Chief Executive Officer of Drexel Heritage. He will continue to report to Tom Foy, President and Chief Operating Officer of Furniture Brands International. Reporting to Jeff Young will be: Steve McKee, President and Chief Executive Officer of Henredon; Lenwood Rich, President and Chief Operating Officer of Drexel Heritage; Seamus Bateson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Maitland-Smith; Bryan Milleson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of HDM; Triche Leander, Senior Vice President, Information Technology of HDM; Tom Mangum, Senior Vice President, Wood Manufacturing of HDM; and Thad Monroe, Senior Vice President, Upholstery Manufacturing of HDM. Mr. Young said, “This move will enable us to consolidate back-office operations, gaining cost savings while improving our service levels to the dealers and ultimately to the consumer. We can bring to Henredon and Maitland-Smith the talents of Bryan Milleson, Triche Leander, Tom Mangum and Thad Monroe, who have done an outstanding job in their respective roles at Drexel Heritage. The sales and marketing functions, or front-end portions of these three businesses, will be unaffected by this change. Each of the three companies will continue to develop and drive its own distinctive products and brands, and this change should be totally transparent to their customers and suppliers.” W.G. (Mickey) Holliman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Furniture Brands, said, “With our many reporting entities, we have redundancy in back-office operating functions. This important first step demonstrates our commitment to get our operating expenses under control and to gain the leverage of our size. This new structure will help us control costs and assist all of our high-end companies in providing more efficient and more cost-effective service to their customers.” Furniture Brands International is America’s largest home furnishings manufacturer, manufacturing and sourcing its products under six of the best-known brand names in the industry – Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Henredon, Drexel Heritage and Maitland-Smith. The company markets its products across a broad spectrum of price categories and distributes its products through an extensive system of independently owned national, regional and local retailers.