Berman out as RoomPlace CEO
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, November 30, 2009
LOMBARD, Ill. — Bruce Berman, whose family founded The RoomPlace, then known as Harlem Furniture, here in 1950 and then sold the company to an investor group in 2004, is out as CEO.
The RoomPlace said it will name Dan Powell, an experienced executive who has been a consultant to the company, as interim CEO while it searches for a permanent replacement. Berman remains a board member and a shareholder.
Powell said Berman's departure represents “a natural transition in senior management” that has been discussed ever since private equity firms acquired the retailer five years ago. He said no other personnel changes are planned at this point.
Attempts to reach Berman were unsuccessful.
The RoomPlace ranks No. 35 on Furniture/Today's Top 100 with estimated furniture, bedding and accessories sales of $208.8 million in 2008, up 5.8% from 2007. The retailer operates 25 stores primarily in metro Chicago and more recently Indianapolis.
Powell has more than 25 years of operations and executive experience, most recently as CEO of Spyder Active Sports, a maker and retailer of performance ski apparel.
Before that, he worked for consulting firm McKinsey & Co. as a leader in its retail and consumer goods practice, where he worked with private equity firms' portfolio companies on performance improvement strategies. He said he worked with home furnishing industry companies, including an importer of Scandinavian furniture he declined to name.
Powell said he has been working with The RoomPlace for about four months, consulting on performance improvement activities.
“I think the board determined the experience I had with the company thus far would be valuable in the months to come,” he said. A permanent CEO probably will be named by early spring “if not sooner,” he said.
RoomPlace Chairman Everett Cook said in a statement that Powell “is an outstanding executive and leader with a proven track record who — in his short time with the company — has already demonstrated his ability to add real value to the company's operations and financial management.
“The board joins me in extending our thanks and appreciation to Bruce for his long commitment to the company and his efforts growing the business to where it is today,” Cook added.
In December 2004, three private equity firms — Pouschine Cook Capital Management, Bear Growth Capital Partners and Mercantile Capital Partners —teamed up with Bruce Berman to acquire the former family-owned Harlem Furniture, but didn't divulge the size of their stakes.
The seeds for The RoomPlace were planted in 1912 when Sam Berman opened his first Chicago furniture store. He eventually sold the business, but it paved the way for Harlem Furniture, founded in 1950 by Berman family members including the late Marilyn Berman Leader, former chairman and Bruce Berman's mother.
The company, which emphasizes promotional to midpriced room packages, eventually changed its name to The RoomPlace at Harlem Furniture and now The RoomPlace.
Everett Cook said the investor group “remains dedicated to The RoomPlace and its future prospects. The company is in sound financial condition, and is well positioned as the place to shop for room furniture and bedding in all of its markets.”
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