United Sleep revamps
Chairman Kaufman adds CEO duties
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, February 19, 2007
Denver, Pa. — United Sleep has revamped its senior management team in the wake of what company officials acknowledge was a challenging year.
Lisa Kaufman, chairman of United Sleep since January 2006, has expanded her duties to include the CEO position. She succeeds Marc Werner, whose role as interim president and CEO was terminated by the board of directors early last month, the company said.
John Katerenchuk, a former United Sleep executive, has rejoined the company as president. And bedding veteran Pete Primeau has been named acting vice president of sales.
Katerenchuk will assume the vice president of operations duties formerly handled by Ed Wolff, who has left the company. Primeau assumes duties formerly handled by Jim Bodino, vice president of sales, who also has left.
United Sleep said it will name a permanent vice president of sales within a few weeks.
Kaufman, managing partner of Chicago-based private equity firm Northlight Capital, which acquired United Sleep last year, acknowledged that United Sleep "is in a temporary cash flow imbalance" that was caused by "the over-purchasing of inventory, primarily from China."
She added, "We are righting the situation by utilizing the inventory and in some cases selling the excess so that we can re-purchase as we need it. Our business is a pay-as-you-go business where we bring in raw materials for each day's production based on orders, and the company briefly lost sight of that."
Kaufman said she had been asked if the management changeover was a cause for concern.
"The answer is that it was the right time to make a change, and while change is difficult, it is sometimes necessary in order to build a strong foundation and a team that has similar core values," she said. "We have combined the strong operating team that made the company successful in the past, and will be joined by additional industry veterans in the near future."
Kaufman expressed confidence about the company's prospects, including its pursuit of goals in efficiency, cost reduction, quality and customer service.
"This will be a banner year for United Sleep," she said.
She said Katerenchuk, formerly vice president of operations at United Sleep, brings "the capabilities to grow the business nationally."
Kaufman thanked the company's customers, vendors and employees "for all of their support and efforts in 2006, which was a challenging year for the company and the industry. We look forward to continuing to grow together as we focus our resources on the company's core strengths of manufacturing and marketing value-based bedding products."
She said United Sleep will continue to offer its branded Nature's Dreams line and will expand its core private-label business nationally.
Katerenchuk, who left United Sleep in 2004, said the company has a solid foundation.
"The core operations team is still in place and we continue to meet and exceed the needs of our customers who count on us for value, a high-quality product, and deliveries early and often," he said. "We will be working to provide even more value to our customers by re-focusing our resources on the company's core price points."
Dave McCahan, who left United Sleep in September, is rejoining the executive team as head of IT systems and operations technology. Sean Fennel, who specializes in quality and productivity improvement in the consumer products and specialty retail industries, recently joined the company as director of quality assurance. Gary Groupe, the company's Denver plant manager, will also serve as operations manager, reporting to Katerenchuk.
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