Josh Brown repurchases furniture carrier American West
Plans to rebuild company as family business
Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, October 7, 2011
LOS OSOS, Calif. — Josh Brown, founder of specialized furniture carrier American West, has repurchased the company and hopes to rebuild the carrier as a family business serving the Western U.S. and select East Coast locations.
Brown, who is the company's CEO, said his wife, Cathie, is president, and son Noah is Western regional vice president. In addition, son-in-law Reed Cullum is the Dallas-based Eastern regional vice president and daughter Michelle Crow is vice president of administration.
Another son, Matt, is supervisor of supply chain management and oversees the company's 285,000-square-foot warehouse, while daughter Deva Winchester is focused on customer retention.
"We're very excited about building American West as a family business," Brown said. "Three of my eldest children worked for the company previously and had gone on to different careers within the transportation industry. When the opportunity to re-acquire American West was presented, I visited with each of them to share my vision for the company as one we could pass on trans-generationally. All agreed to re-join the company."
The revamped company specializes in less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments originating from the West Coast for distribution to Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Brown said the purchase was an all-cash transaction, so the company is debt-free and well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities presented by recent consolidations in the furniture transportation sector.
"We' re simply going to fulfill our promises to the customer, whatever that means in terms of communication, transit times or support," he said. "We believe this is more important than ever given the difficult environment in which the furniture industry is currently operating."
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