Anatomic Global taps Rick Vander Woude as national sales director

Realigns management as President Jeff Scorziell takes leave

David Perry -- Furniture Today, May 2, 2011

Rick Vander Woude

CORONA, Calif. — Anatomic Global has promoted industry veteran Rick Vander Woude to national sales director as part of a management realignment in the wake of President Jeff Scorziell's decision to take a leave of absence from the company.

Scorziell said that he and his wife were moving to Zimbabwe for six months to focus on missionary work they began in the country several years ago. He will remain a consultant to the company, a manufacturer of memory foam mattresses.

Anatomic Global created the new position of national sales director for Vander Woude, who has been with the company as a regional sales representative since July 2009. He has had nearly 30 years of experience running sales organizations in the specialty bedding category and has worked for Simmons, Tempur-Pedic and Innomax.

Vander Woude will oversee the company's six regional sales managers and network of independent representatives. He also will lead the company's efforts in its growing retail networks channel.

"Rick has been one of our strongest producers for the past several years and has been serving as a mentor to other sales representatives for some time, so I believe this is a very natural evolution of roles for him in our organization," said Anatomic Global CEO David Farley. "His experience in specialty bedding, in particular, and having run larger sales forces for some of the largest players in the mattress business, are also important skills he brings to our senior management team as we continue our steep growth."

Farley said that the leave of absence by Scorziell was "bittersweet" for the organization and for him personally.

"Jeff and I have become good friends and close colleagues these past few years," Farley said. "When I wear my CEO hat I would say I had wished he had picked another time to make this journey. But as his friend, I understand his commitment to the children of Africa and their need for his good work. We needed to find a balance between the needs of Jeff and those if the organization. I believe the transition and structure we have created serve all needs well."

Before joining Anatomic Global, Vander Woude was the director of specialty product sales from 2005 to 2008 for ComforPedic Products, which was acquired by Simmons. From 2000 to 2005 he was the Rocky Mountain regional sales manager for Tempur-Pedic, and earlier was national sales manager for Innomax for 17 years.