Art Van names Marshall Whaling CEO

Former Circuit City executive replaces founder Art Van Elslander

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, September 26, 2008

WARREN, Mich. — Art Van Furniture has hired Circuit City executive Marshall Whaling as CEO, replacing founder Art Van Elslander, who will remain on board as chairman of the Top 100 retailer.

Retail veteran Whaling, who joins the company Sept. 29, most recently was senior vice president-retail operations with Circuit City, where he was "instrumental in developing new store and field operations to help with the company's turnaround efforts," Art Van Furniture said in a news release.

"His work there produced operational efficiencies and significant increases in customer satisfaction scores."

Whaling also spent 20 years with American of Madison, Wis., a 15-store retailer of furniture, appliances and consumer electronics in Wisconsin and surrounding states. He had overall responsibility for sales, operations, sales and product training, and customer service.

In addition, he was with Best Buy for nine years, running operations for 700 stores and supporting the opening of 200 new stores.

"The retail landscape has changed dramatically in the last 10 years as consumer habits and economic conditions have altered," said Van Elslander. "Introducing Marshall to our team allows us to draw from his extensive experience in creating sound operational practices that promote and foster customer satisfaction. He is a great addition that will further strengthen our solid management team."

Chris Morrisroe, Art Van's communications director, said Van Elslander has no plans of stepping back from the company, and said Van Elslander and Whaling will be working together.

The publicly held Circuit City has been struggling lately with only one profitable quarter since the second quarter of 2007. This week, the company's CEO resigned.

But it was Whaling's wide range of experience and fresh approach that attracted Art Van to him, Morrisroe said.

"Mr. Van has always been someone who wants to stay ahead of curve," she said, adding that Whaling will help the Michigan retailer in that regard.

"His specific accomplishments have really moved the needle in customer satisfaction and service," she said. "We were really looking for someone who will bring a fresh set of eyes here ... who was part of this roller coaster ride, but stayed out in front of it.

Other recent changes to the retailer's leadership include the promotion of Dan Baran to vice president of information systems, logistics and operations, and Robert Cudd to vice president of marketing and e-commerce. They report to President Gary Van Elslander.

Baran, a 27-year industry veteran, joined Art Van in 2001 and recently was director of operations and logistics. He now oversees information systems, distribution, customer service, quality and logistics for the chain.

Cudd, who joined Art Van in 2007as director of customer relationship marketing, is now responsible for the direction of all aspects of communications and marketing.

Ranked No. 17 on Furniture/Today's survey of Top 100 U.S. furniture stores, the 30-store Art Van did an estimated $470 million in sales last year, down 6% from the 2006.