Austin heads to Vietnam as Maitland president
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, February 1, 2004
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Randy Austin will join Paul Maitland International on Feb. 15 as president, a new post at the eight-year-old Vietnamese furniture and accessories manufacturer.
In January, Austin left Hickory White, the Sherrill Furniture-owned company where he had been CEO for 12 years.
He will move to Vietnam to become part of the Paul Maitland International executive team, joining CEO Stelvio Guglielmi and Paul Maitland-Smith, founder and executive chairman.
PMI produces occasional furniture, case goods and accessories in the 850,000-square-foot Theodore Alexander plant it opened here in 1998 and in the 620,000-square-foot Saigon Fine Furniture plant it opened in December.
The company's Theodore Alexander brand furniture is sold in North America through Sherrill, which acquired a minority stake in PMI late last year. PMI also produces goods on an OEM basis for other manufacturers, including Hickory White.
"We are delighted to have someone with Randy's expertise and experience as we continue to expand our operations in Vietnam and our worldwide distribution. His knowledge of the U.S. market will help us tremendously in our development," said Guglielmi.
Austin said he was quite familiar with Paul Maitland International.
"I have been involved with the company for several years on Hickory White product development and production at the Theodore Alexander plant, and I know the quality of the product and the executive team first hand," he said.
While most of the company's sales are to the United States, Austin said PMI is looking to expand worldwide, including in Europe. He declined to disclose its sales or growth projections.
Before he joined Hickory White, Austin had been president of Riverside Furniture and Hammary, and held executive posts at Hickory Chair and Drexel Heritage. He began his career as a buyer at Rich's department store in Atlanta.
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