by HICKORY, N.C. — To support both current and growing demand, Sherrill Furniture, headquartered here, has announced several leadership changes, Home News Now has learned.
According to CEO Charles Sherrill, the moves support the company’s ongoing mission of continually improving its infrastructure to enable the company to seamlessly meet both current and future demand for its line of handcrafted and domestically produced sofas, chairs, chaises and ottomans.
As part of these changes, Tom Zaliagiris, who had been vice president of sales for the Precedent brand for more than eight years at Sherrill, has been promoted to senior vice president of sales for all the brands under Sherrill Furniture.
In addition, Zaliagiris will also continue to manage the product development for the Precedent brand.
Reporting to Zaliagiris will be Johnny Suddreth, vice president of sales; Patrick Foster, also vice president of sales; and Mark Copeland, newly named director of sales for interior designers.
Suddreth will now be responsible for sales of the Sherrill, Whittemore Sherrill, Motioncraft, Sherrill Occasional and Precedent brands. Foster will now be responsible for sales of Mr. & Mrs. Howard, Hickory White and Lillian August for Hickory White brands.
Copeland was previously manager of the Sherrill New York Design Center Showroom. “In this newly created position (director of sales for interior designers), Mark enables Sherrill to develop and grow our important relationships with independent interior designers,” the company said.
The company also said that Lacey Griffith, senior vice president of information technology and customer service, is leading the long-term digital initiative for Sherrill to enhance its customer experience. The first phase is a robust product configurator scheduled to roll out in late 2024.
Dax Allen, meanwhile, has been named senior vice president of marketing and case good merchandising. The company credited Allen for having been instrumental over the past four years in leading Sherrill’s transition into a digital marketing platform through current technology, including robust CGI capabilities and industry-leading social media strategies.
In his new role, Allen will continue to lead the marketing initiatives to create improved customer interfaces and will guide the merchandising direction for all the Sherrill case goods brands.
In addition to the marketing team, Chad Phillips, the new director of case goods product development, will report to Allen. Previously, Phillips spent 17 years at Century Furniture in all areas of wood product development and “brings a wealth of knowledge to Sherrill.”
Paula Daniels, who had been vice president of human resources, has been promoted to senior vice president of human resources.
The company credits Daniels for playing an integral role in managing Sherrill’s recent manufacturing capacity expansion at its facility in Conover, North Carolina.
Andy Bass, who has been with the company more than 20 years as director of purchasing, has been promoted to vice president of purchasing. In his new role, he assumes responsibilities for fabric and leather purchasing for all the Sherrill brands as well as for all domestic purchasing for both case goods and upholstery.
Melody Taylor, who came to Sherrill from Hanes Brands, had been collections manager for Sherrill. She has been promoted to director of credit.
Zaliagiris, Griffith, Allen, Daniels and Bass will all report to company President Thad Monroe.
“This is an exciting time at Sherrill,” Monroe said. “Our senior management team is in the process of developing a long-term organizational structure to ensure the further success of Sherrill Furniture Co. All these individuals are uniquely qualified to be leaders within our company.”
