Ultimate Accents taps Davis as president
By Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, May 10, 2010
KERNERSVILLE, N.C. —
Industry veteran Terri Davis has been named president of painted accent furniture source Ultimate Accents, replacing company founder Gail Steele.
Paul Coscarelli, one of the partners in the company, said last week that Davis was named to the post.
Davis has been a consultant, a sales representative for Human Touch, and vice president of sales at Lea Inds., where she worked for two decades. She reports to Coscarelli and Al Schwerin, who also owns a stake in the company.
Schwerin and Coscarelli are the former owners of APA Marketing, which was acquired in 2008 by home office and entertainment source Whalen, which also produces under the Golden Oak brand.
They serve in executive positions at Whalen, in addition to having ownership stakes in Ultimate Accents. Coscarelli emphasized that he and Schwerin are full time employees of Whalen and are not involved with day-to-day operations of Ultimate Accents.
Coscarelli said that Davis' longtime focus on sales and her contacts in the industry will be critical to Ultimate Accents' success.
Gail Steele and her husband, Ray Steele, who was secretary, treasurer and marketing director at Ultimate Accents, said they were terminated from the painted accent furniture source.
Gail Steele retains her one-third ownership in the company, the Steeles said in a press release. They said the terminations were the result of an ongoing disagreement between the Steeles and the other two partners, Schwerin and Coscarelli.
The Steeles said the disagreement involved marketing strategy. The other partners suggested an approach more oriented to mass merchants and chain furniture retailers, they said.
Coscarelli said that with the industry facing a future populated with fewer dealers, the company needs to place more of an emphasis on retailers who sell greater volume.
“In order to have volume that is sufficient to support the overhead of the company it needs to grow. Where that growth was going to come from was something we had some rousing discussions about,” he said.
He said the decision to release the Steeles was the last in a list of possible options.
“The company was well run and well managed by Ray and Gail for 10 years. I give them a lot of kudos for being able to manage a company through a couple years of difficulty,” Coscarelli said.
“We're trying to build on all the positive things Ray and Gail have done over the last 10 years and make it a stronger company,” he added.
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Terri Davis named president of Ultimate Accents
May 3, 2010
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