Jones retiring as Sealy chairman
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, March 28, 2004
ARCHDALE, N.C. — ARCHDALE, N.C. — Ron Jones, who has headed bedding major Sealy since 1996, announced he will retire in April after the company's $1.5 billion buyout by affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is finalized.
For Jones, 61, it marks the end of a 30-year career in the home furnishings industry. He plans to remain active with civic, church, family and business interests.
Dave McIlquham, who has been Sealy's president and CEO since 2002, will be given the additional duties of chairman, the post held by Jones since McIlquham's promotion.
"Sealy is a strong and viable company whose days in the future can be as bright as the days of the past," Jones said in a letter to Sealy employees. "I am grateful and feel very indebted to the many who have worked to make all the accomplishments of recent years possible. I simply want to thank everyone at Sealy for the privilege of being an associate of theirs, and for supporting me during the years that I was privileged to lead Sealy."
Jones, who joined the company after stints as president of Masco's home furnishings unit and HON Inds., was brought into run Sealy at a time when it was losing market share and alienating many of its retail customers.
During his tenure as president and CEO, Jones righted the Sealy ship and enabled the company to reassert itself as the bedding industry sales leader. During that time, Sealy also moved its corporate headquarters from Cleveland to Archdale, in the midst of North Carolina's home furnishings industry.
"Sealy is in the position it is today largely because of Ron's leadership and vision," said McIlquham. "He was instrumental in rebuilding customer relationships in the mid-1990s, building our business, expanding distribution and increasing our international presence."
Jones said he will continue to maintain homes in Greensboro, N.C. and Scottsdale, Ariz., and also will also be a managing partner for a New York-based equity investment firm.
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