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Kevin Damewood joins mattress major Comfort Solutions

Will hold new senior VP post

David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 30, 2009

WILLOWBROOK, Ill. — Bedding veteran Kevin Damewood has joined Top 10 bedding producer Comfort Solutions as senior vice president of sales and business development, a new position.

Kevin Damewood

Damewood, who formerly held key sales posts at Sealy, Simmons and Spring Air, reports to David Binke, executive vice president of sales for Comfort Solutions.

Damewood, who will be based in Maryland, is the fourth industry veteran to join the executive ranks at Comfort Solutions this year. Eric Jent and Howard Galant are vice presidents of sales development and Owen Shoemaker is vice president of product development.

All four hold newly created positions that reflect a strategic plan by Comfort Solutions to increase its service to retailers and boost sales development programs, company officials said. The hires come at a time when other bedding producers are trimming their staffs in the face of a challenging business climate in the mattress industry.

"We believe in the aggressive growth plan that we've set for our company and in the value of having the most knowledgeable and experienced executives possible to execute it," said Dave Roberts, CEO and president of Comfort Solutions.

Damewood held sales, key account and district management positions at Sealy from 1983 to 1995. Then he spent 10 years at Simmons, working as a divisional vice president of national accounts and vice president of sales for the Pacific Northwest region. When he left Simmons in 2005, he was senior vice president of sales and marketing. After that, he spent two years at Spring Air as executive vice president of sales.

"Based on Kevin's more than 25 years' experience in mattress sales, working in key corporate and field posts for several of the industry's top producers, we're confident that his contributions to increasing the company's distribution and market share will be significant," Roberts said.

Binke said that neither Damewood, Jent, Galant or Brent Biermann, who oversees specialty and alternate sales channels, has any geographic restrictions on their sales or business development efforts. All report to Binke.

"Despite the difficult economy, we're positioning ourselves to aggressively drive sales performance and service over the next few years by making a substantial investment now in the right people," Binke said. "Rather than standing still waiting for an upturn, we're committed to looking forward, where we see plenty of business opportunities and growth potential for Comfort Solutions."

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Comfort hires senior VP

Apr 6, 2009

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