Ruff named Woodmarc CEO
Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, February 20, 2006
Winterset, Iowa — Industry veteran Jerry Ruff has joined wood furniture manufacturer Woodmarc here as CEO, assuming some of the duties formerly held by President Lou Jenright.
Also, Dennis Donahue has been named chief financial officer, a new post. He was CFO at Ello Furniture, where he worked for 16 years, and earlier spent 12 years in the financial community.
Ruff spent the past 18 months as director of the Furniture Enterprise Office of the North Carolina Department of Commerce. Previously, he was CEO of The Powell Co. and before that was president of Lane's wood division.
Woodmarc, which makes and imports midpriced bedroom furniture and entertainment systems, was created by the Merschman family in 1990 to provide furniture to the family's Homemakers stores, based in Des Moines, Iowa. Homemakers later was acquired by Nebraska Furniture Mart, which sold Woodmarc to an investment group about a year ago.
While its core business is in the Midwest, the company has a distribution center in Kent, Wash., and recently opened another in Santa Fe Springs, Calif. Its 260,000-square-foot factory in Iowa has about 200 employees.
In Las Vegas, Woodmarc introduced two traditional cherry bedrooms and a contemporary entertainment system. The company also shows in High Point.
Ruff's post at the N.C. DOC hasn't yet been filled.
