by New hires, promotions bring years of industry experience to Southern Motion and sister company Fusion Furniture
PONTOTOC, Miss. — Southern Furniture Industries, the parent of Southern Motion and sister stationary upholstery resource Fusion Furniture, has expanded its sales and merchandising team in a series of new hires and promotions aimed at furthering its growth.
The company has hired Al Matthews as senior vice president, sales. He fills a position formerly held by Tom Little, who has retired. Matthews reports to Jim Anthony, executive vice president, sales and marketing. Anthony has filled the role in the interim.
Matthews comes to the company from Ashley Furniture, where he has worked for nearly 16 years, most recently as senior vice president of the motion upholstery and outdoor divisions. Before that, he was vice president, sales for the case goods division and before that was vice president, sales for the upholstery division and vice president, sales for Ashley’s Millennium division.
He also was previously vice president, sales at Emerald Home Furnishings, and before that was regional manager at Bassett Furniture Industries and previously was regional vice president, sales at La-Z-Boy. He also was a franchisee and store owner at Norwalk and was a vice president and manager at Haverty Furniture for 14 years prior.
“While our industry is facing challenging market conditions, many opportunities still exist to grow sales and capture market share,” Anthony said. “Al brings a wealth of furniture knowledge, key account relationships and retail experience to the team. With Al’s leadership and focus, we look forward to accelerating our initiatives to capitalize on these opportunities.”
The company also has promoted Ginger Whitten to director, merchandising, a new position. Also reporting to Jim Anthony, she previously was merchandise manager at Southern Motion for more than six and a half years. She also has held key merchandising positions at Brookwood Furniture, Bauhaus Furniture and American Furniture Manufacturing.
George Dix, a product manager and designer at Southern Motion, has been promoted to director, product design for Southern Furniture Industries, a new position in which he also will design products for Fusion. He also reports to Jim Anthony. The company said that he has been instrumental in developing many of the company’s bestselling motion frames over the past decade. Before joining Southern Motion in 2012, he was director, design for Lane Furniture and also previously held design roles at Ashley Furniture and Benchcraft Furniture.
In this new role, the company said he will partner with Ginger Whitten and Anna Claire Curtis, vice president, merchandising for Fusion, on the development of new motion and stationary upholstery.
The company also announced that Morris Kelly Snyder has joined the company as merchandising coordinator, also a new position. In this role, she reports to Curtis and will support her efforts in the merchandising realm.
