Bedding exec carousel: Two major players rotate
Pay close attention. This column gets kind of confusing. Sorry about that. A few years ago, Bob Hellyer was president of Simmons and then the company made some changes and said he was leaving and that Simmons didn’t need a president after all. Hellyer was out of the industry for a couple of years.
Meanwhile, Jim Nation was president and CEO of Spring Air, where he did a great job. And then, in the summer of 2007, Spring Air was unified under one ownership structure and the company announced that, well, Nation was out as CEO but would remain as president.
And the new CEO of Spring Air was … Bob Hellyer. And then a month later Spring Air announced that Nation had resigned as president. So Hellyer was back in the saddle and Nation was out.
And then, a couple of weeks ago, Spring Air announced, suddenly, that Hellyer had resigned and that a new office of the chairman had been created to head the company. No reason for Hellyer’s departure was given. There seldom is in situations like that. And with that, Hellyer was out of a job again.
Meanwhile, bedding’s No. 3 producer, Serta, got on a hot streak and began gaining share on its biggest rivals, Sealy and Simmons. Serta President Bob Sherman made some smart moves, including opportunistic hires of strong executives who became available as bedding’s big league players shuffled their lineups. And then, just the other day, he plucked one of the biggest plums for Serta. Yes, Jim Nation, who had been in the bedding wilderness, was back. He was named president of sales development at Serta, a new position. He reports to Sherman.
And that, dear readers, is where the bedding ball game stands. The tables that had turned against Jim Nation suddenly turned against Bob Hellyer, almost at the same time that they turned back toward Jim Nation. Got all that?
This just goes to show that things can change quickly and unexpectedly in the mattress business, especially when companies have demanding private equity owners.
It also shows how Bob Sherman is willing to make big moves. How many presidents would bring in the former president and CEO of a major rival? Now bedding’s hottest producer has two top leaders of considerable ability. They are said to get along well together. This looks like a powerful team.
Meanwhile, Spring Air, which once had Hellyer and Nation on its team, now has neither.
Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of mattress management. Which reminds me: Where is Dave McIlquham these days? I hear there’s an opening at Spring Air.
Lisa S. commented:
I\'m glad Mr. Nation is back at it! I can\'t wait to see where Mr. Eitel shows up next. What a crazy industry we are in! Keep up the good work Dave.
Warren Littrell commented:
This is a huge coup for Serta. Kudosto Bob Sherman. Serta is on a roll and is will to roll the dice to keep it going. Jin Nation is a class act who is extremely smart and thas a lot of bedding savy.
Interested commented:
A big and well deserved congrats to Jim Nation.
undetermined commented:
And it just keeps getting more interesting now with Charlie Eitel stepping down. So in the last several months, Sealy, Spring Air, Simmons. Who\'s next?
Muse commented:
Haven\'t you heard? It\'s good to recycle as it is to share. Counting on experience like counting those cute Serta sheep can pay off but where are the new kids (products included) on the block? Waiting in the wings or held in the stalls? Change is as good as a rest so maybe it\'s time to embrace the former to achieve the latter and celebrate both in the process. Reach for the rainbow and put some color into a grey world of grey men in grey suits. Embrace, Embolden, Enjoy...
Muse commented:
Haven\'t you heard? It\'s good to recycle as it is to share. Counting on experience like counting those cute Serta sheep can pay off but where are the new kids (products included) on the block? Waiting in the wings or held in the stalls? Change is as good as a rest so maybe it\'s time to embrace the former to achieve the latter and celebrate both in the process. Reach for the rainbow and put some color into a grey world of grey men in grey suits. Embrace, Embolden, Enjoy...
Bob Levin commented:
David, If your ears were ringing last week, it is because a guy named Rick Rossiter and I had lunch together and were talking about the bedding business in general and this type of story in particular. About twenty years ago Rick was my boss at S&F. Rick worked for Ernie Wuliger at Ohio Mattress and when Ernie took over S&F Rick was his number 3 man. Rick hired me from Simmons to manage the Western U.S. Rick left S&F when Ernie won the Sealy company in a court fight. Rick came to Florida and bought a Harley Davidson dealership, and eventually a second dealership. I am Pres./CEO of a software company based in Melbourne, Australia, and I own half the company. I live in FL just a few minutes from Rick. And, to end the story, we hired Bob Hellyer as a trainee at S&F, though he didn\'t really need much training because he was raised in the business. Rick and I had quite a lunch and laughed about how guys could possibly spend 20+ years doing 1/2 price box spring sales and mis-matched ticking sales without going crazy. Another of our trainees, Jim Ross, is I understand a big shot in someone\'s bedding company, although whichever company it is today, it could be another one tomorrow. Keep up the great columns. Cheers.
