Aizawa, Bernstein leave Chris Stone
Company names Wygle acting CEO
Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, May 29, 2008
VERNON, Calif. — Fabric supplier Chris Stone Inc.’s longtime president Mark Aizawa resigned effective Tuesday, following the departure Friday of Andrea Bernstein, director of merchandising and marketing.
Chris Stone’s board appointed Brian Wygle, who described himself as a “professional interim CEO,” as acting CEO while the company searches for a new top executive.
In addition, Jay Swirbul has been named vice president of sales and marketing. Swirbul, who will work out of the company’s offices in Florida and North Carolina, has been its sales representative in the Southeast for the past six years. In his new position, he will be responsible for sales, customer service, marketing and the sample department.
Wygle said in an interview that he had been retained by the board since March “as a very high level temporary employee.”
“Sometimes there is a need to shake things up a bit. There’s a better way to do things. We know who we are,” he said.
He said that Chris Stone, a vertical U.S.-based textile business that is a dyer, printer and finisher, has solid design capabilities and will do more custom work than in the past. “We will broaden our exposure in solids and turn production in the U.S. quickly,” he said.
He added, “We’re a sales company and a manufacturing company. We have outstanding merchandising services and have enough expertise in the art department plus outside art experts. In addition, we brought in a couple of new people in finance and customer service.”
Regarding Swirbul’s role, Wygle said, “We wanted to use more of his expertise in the sales area, to meet customers’ expectations better.” He said the goal “is to run the company more efficiently, tighten the focus and restructure the reps for better efficiency.”
Aizawa had been with the company for 21 years, the last eight as president.
Chris Stone will exhibit at the Showtime fabric show in High Point next week on the first floor of the Market Square Textile Tower.
