Hooker Names Cole President; Promotes Delgatti

August 22, 2011  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on August 23, 2011

Hooker Furniture (NASDAQ-GS: HOFT) has promoted Alan Cole to President of the corporation; and Mike Delgatti president of Hooker Upholstery.

Cole has led Hooker's Bradington-Young and Sam Moore upholstery operations since joining the company in 2007.

"Alan has done a fantastic job of repositioning and strengthening our upholstery division while navigating through a severe economic downturn," said Paul B. Toms Jr., chairman and CEO of Hooker Furniture, Martinsville, Va. "At this point, we believe the best way to fully utilize his talents and leadership ability is through an expanded role of leadership for the entire company, focusing on the sales and marketing area."

Toms added that Cole "will help us take our marketing efforts to the next level as we continue to strive towards presenting all three companies more cohesively to the retailer and consumer."
 
In moving from executive vice president to president of Hooker Upholstery, Delgatti's role will expand from sales, merchandising and marketing to also include operations.

"We've made tremendous strides under Mike's leadership in our product, presentation and overall position in the marketplace during the last two years at Bradington-Young and Sam Moore," Cole said. "Mike is highly experienced in what it takes to run a successful upholstery operation, and we are excited and confident that he will bring fresh strategic thinking to every aspect of our upholstery operations."

Delgatti reports to Cole. Prior to joining Hooker Upholstery, Delgatti served as president of Clayton Marcus and as executive vice president of merchandising for occasional and upholstery at Broyhill, and vice president of sales and marketing at Southern Furniture.

Prior to joining Hooker Furniture, Cole served as president and/or chief executive officer of Berkline, Schnadig and Lifestyle Furnishings International, the former furniture division of Masco.