Frank Hood Named President at Kingsdown

February 9, 2012  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on February 10, 2012

Bedding producer Kingsdown has promoted Frank Hood to president; Joe Schmoeller to executive vice president and COO; and Kevin Damewood to executive vice president of sales and marketing.

Hood, a veteran consumer products industry executive, was most recently president of The Sleep to Live Institute. He replaces Bob Hellyer, who left the company on Tuesday after serving as president for a year.

Hood joined Kingsdown in 2008 as senior vice president and chief information officer. He later added the title of president of the Sleep to Live Institute, which licenses bedMatch technology. More recently, he became involved in Kingsdown's marketing efforts.

Before joining the company, he was a senior vice president of Quiznos; and prior to that post, was senior vice president of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. from 1997 to 2005.

"When you look at the sleep products industry today, the successful brands are ones being led by people from outside the industry who are able to bring a fresh and new perspective on how we present ourselves to the consumer. Frank is one of these people," said Mebane, N.C.-based Kingsdown Chairman and CEO Eric Hinshaw. "His background in technology and experience in implementing strong marketing programs at Quiznos and Krispy Kreme have given us enormous insight on how we can continue to grow our company and brands. I am very excited about his expanded role with us. Combining Frank's vision with Joe and Kevin's trade experience and relationships allows Kingsdown to provide its customers with a very powerful combination of service and skill.

"I want to thank Bob (Hellyer) for his contributions to our company this past year and wish him the best in his future endeavors."
 
Hood said that his focus will be to better align the entire organization around the company€™s science of sleep message and its diagnostics program.

"Our bedMatch technology has revolutionized the way bedding is sold because we were the first to use science to help a consumer find the right mattress and pillow for their body type," Hood said. "More than 6 million consumers have used the system to date, which has become our unique selling proposition in the market.

"We need to make sure that our entire organization is built around doing all we can to assist retailers who carry the Kingsdown brands and the consumers who have come to rely on the science and efficacy of bedMatch technology to get a better and more restorative night's sleep."

Schmoeller joined Kingsdown in 1997 as senior vice president of operations overseeing production, supply chain management and distribution. He joined the company from Carpenter, where he spent 17 years in senior operations roles as well.

Damewood joined Kingsdown in 2010 as senior vice president of U.S. sales. He has more than 27 years experience in the sleep products industry serving in the top sales and marketing roles for Spring Air and Simmons during his career. A former retail buyer, he transitioned to the wholesale side of the business in 1985 when he joined Sealy.