Dive Brief:
- Serta Simmons Bedding named Charlie Eitel as its chief executive officer. Eitel is a current board member and the former chairman and CEO of Simmons Bedding, and succeeds Shelley Huff, who is exiting the company.
- The company also named Tim Oakhill as its chief marketing officer. Oakhill was formerly the chief marketing officer of Simmons Bedding. He succeeds Guy Longworth, who is leaving Serta Simmons Bedding.
- Both the CEO and CMO appointments are effective immediately.
Dive Insight:
Following a recent exit from Chapter 11, Serta Simmons Bedding is changing up its C-suite.
The company filed for bankruptcy at the start of the year and exited in June with its debt lowered by $1.6 billion and annual cash interest expense reduced by over $100 million. Those steps were, in part, to enable more investments back into the business.
At the time of the CEO and CMO announcement, Serta Simmons Bedding also said Mark Genender would become executive chairman of its board. Genender is currently a managing partner at Bristol Growth Capital. Former CEO of Stanley Black & Decker, James Loree, has also been appointed to the board.
“SSB has a strong foundation built on the company’s deep heritage in innovation and portfolio of leading brands,” Genender said in a statement. “To regain market leadership, our new Board believes we must build on that legacy by continuing to innovate and invest in our brands, enhancing retail partner relationships and providing industry leading quality and service.”
In June, Serta Simmons said it was building its turnaround strategy on four pillars — product innovation, brand positioning and marketing investments, sales growth, and supply chain investments. At that time it also announced a new board of directors and said it plans to refresh the vast majority of its product portfolio this year.
Serta Simmons Bedding is one of the largest bedding manufacturers in North America, and owns the Serta, Beautyrest, Simmons and Tuft & Needle brands.
