Rutledge joins Watkins & Shepard

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 11, 2013

RutledgeHELENA, Mont. - Watkins & Shepard Trucking has hired George Rutledge as a regional sales manager, with responsibility for business development in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
     He will be based in Dallas.
     Patrick Smith, national sales manager at Watkins & Shepard, said Rutledge "brings with him an illustrious career in the furniture industry and a broad knowledge of the retailer base. His reputation in furniture manufacturing will complement our organization's continuing effort to bring talented personnel to our logistics model."
     Rutledge has more than 25 years of experience in furniture manufacturing and the marketing of home furnishings to multiple distribution channels, most recently with La- Crosse Furniture.
     Watkins & Shepard Trucking has more than 600 power units and 1,500 trailers in the United States and western Canada, specializies in the home furnishings and flooring products markets, and employs more than 1,000 at 21 U.S. terminals.