Furniture First Adds 2 to Team

December 8, 2011  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on December 9, 2011 Buying group Furniture First has added two people to its merchandising team.

Andrew Kauffman has been named director of mattresses, and Shauna Snyder has been named director of accents and accessories.

Kauffman has more than 20 years of experience in the furniture industry. He began his furniture career in 1989 delivering mattresses for a five-store sleep shop in Pennsylvania. He worked his way up to store manager, and eventually sales manager. In 1999, he joined a two-store furniture retailer as a sales manager and helped institute a sales training guides for mattresses and upholstery. In 2009, he took over as operations manager and assistant buyer.

€œAndrew brings a working knowledge of the day-to-day challenges that independent furniture retailers face in this tough economy,€ said Bill Hartman, president of Furniture First. €œHis knowledge of mattresses and sales will be a great resource for our Members.€

Snyder is responsible for creating, managing and improving the the organization's supplier program relationships in her new position. She reports to Tony Moretti, vice president of merchandising.

Prior to Furniture First, she held positions with Storehouse, Art Van Furniture,  Surya  and most recently, Rizzy Home. 

€œShauna€™s extensive retail and wholesale background and experience in accessories and area rugs will help Furniture First Members build their business with incremental sales in this often-neglected category for furniture retailers,€ Moretti said.

The staff additions will allow existing team members, including Ron Page, senior director of merchandising, and Moretti to focus on core merchandise categories, case goods and upholstery, respectively.