Jim Craven to receive IHFRA award for service

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 21, 2013

HIGH POINT — Jim Craven, a longtime member and former president of the International Home Furnishings Representatives Assn., will receive IHFRA's highest honor, the Harold P. Braun Distinguished Service Award.

Jim Craven

The award honors a sales representative who has distinguished himself on behalf of IHFRA and has enhanced the image of home furnishings sales reps in the community and the industry.

Craven will receive the honor at the Furniture Industry Awards Gala during the spring High Point Market on Monday, April 22, in the International Home Furnishings Center ballroom.

He was IHFRA's 70th president and also served in other association offices, including as legislative chairman from 1999 to 2007. He also was president and chairman of his local IHFRA chapter, the Tennessee Furniture Travelers.

Craven began his career in 1989 as a representative for Fairfield Chair Co., and since 2001 has also represented Cresent Fine Furniture.
He says he started in the furniture business when he was still in his crib. His grandfather, R. A. Craven Sr., was a Bassett rep in the 1950s and 1960s. His father, R. A. (Tex) Craven Jr., was a rep for Fairfield Chair for over 50 years before his death in 2007. Jim's brother, Mike, was also a rep for Fairfield Chair in Virginia and Maryland before he died in 2008. Brother Mark is a former Hooker Furniture and Fairfield Chair rep and is now President of Fairfield Chair. Jim Craven also has a sister, Cathy, who owns a contract furniture dealership in Birmingham Ala., AI Corporate Interiors.

IHFRA and the National Home Furnishings Assn. are sponsoring the April 22 awards gala. For information on the event, contact the IHFRA Office at (336) 889-3920 or e-mail ihfra@ihfra.org. Reservations for the gala can also be made online at www.ihfra.org.