Jena Hall to relaunch design firm

Leaving furniture source Aspenhome after seven years

Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, October 19, 2010

Jena Hall

HIGH POINT — Jena Hall is leaving furniture supplier Aspenhome as executive vice president of merchandising and design to relaunch her merchandising and marketing design group, Jena Hall Associates.

The firm, which focuses on providing strategic initiatives and style leadership to the home furnishings industry, is based in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. Hall was the lead designer at the firm for three decades.

Hall has worked for the past seven years at Aspenhome, where she focused on rebranding and repositioning the company from a home office and entertainment specialist to a full collection-oriented company.

As a designer, she has produced more than 30,000 home furnishing products under her Jena Hall Licensed Collections label and has been involved with multiple private label programs. She also has designed for many manufacturers, among them Broyhill, American Drew, American Leather, Century, Oriental Accents, The Rug Barn and Wynwood.

"This move provides me the opportunity to pursue new avenues for creativity, strategic planning and bottom line successes for clients while affording me a little more time to spend with my family," Hall said.

She said it was exciting to work at Aspenhome with like-minded individuals in a company that is entrepreneurial and growing.

"It has been a fast-track, warp-speed kind of experience that I wouldn't trade for the world," Hall said. She thanked Aspenhome CEO Bill Colegrove and owners Rick and Bob McMillan of Furniture Values International for the experience.

Hall was the founding president of WithIt, the women's leadership development organization in the industry, and is a member of its board of governors. She also is national co-chair for the Home Furnishings Division of City of Hope, and serves on the Home Furnishings Board of B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League.