Verlo Mattress Promotes 5

April 17, 2013  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on April 18, 2013

Mattress manufacturer and retailer Verlo Mattress Factory, Milwaukee, Wis., has announced five executive and management promotions.

The new promotions, effective immediately, include Dale Rome, vice president of sales & operations; Bobby Cleveland, general manager; Tom Metz, director of product development & special projects; Darren Brylow, assistant general manager; and Stephen Shelly, director of operations.

€œThe strength of Verlo is the expertise of our people,€ said Verlo CEO Chris Nolte. €œWe are very fortunate to be able to leverage the experience of our seasoned employees. It makes growing our business that much easier.€

With more than 23 years of experience in almost every facet of Verlo, Dale Rome has dual strengths in operations and sales. Throughout the years, he has earned the respect of both Verlo employees and franchisees. As a former Marine, he leads by example and inspires his team. Rome is regarded as a caring protector, both at work and outside of work when he serves as a volunteer firefighter.

Bobby Cleveland has years under the belt, holding many roles at Verlo. He started in sales and was soon asked to launch a new store in Glendale, Wis. He then became store manager at the Menomonee Falls, Wis., location. In 2009, Cleveland returned to sales at the Greenfield, Wis, store, where he has consistently been a top producer. In addition to his career at Verlo, Cleveland is a successful entrepreneur, having launched a company that locally manufactures and sells handcrafted holsters. Although his company€™s product is different from Verlo€™s, the platforms of the two companies are very similar, and the experience has helped prepare him for his new responsibilities at Verlo. To better focus on his new position at Verlo, Cleveland is handing over operations of his company to his business partner.

Tom Metz has been has spent most of his life in the mattress industry. He started working for the original owners of Verlo in 1976, and was instrumental in setting up the first Verlo franchise operation, which was owned by his twin brother. He later helped to open four other franchises, as well as his own Verlo stores in Crystal Lake, Ill., and in Lake Geneva, Wis. He later sold his business, but continued to work in the mattress industry in Minnesota. Metz returned to Wisconsin in 2007 to work at VyMaC, Verlo€™s main supplier. In 2012, he rejoined Verlo as corporate sales manager.

Darren Brylow owned a Verlo mattress before joining the company, and his belief in the product played a role in his decision to work at Verlo. During his 12 years with the company, Brylow has moved through the ranks, first delivering mattresses, then making them, and later selling mattresses and managing stores. He became store manager of the Greenfield store in 2010.

Stephen Shelly joined Verlo over a year ago. He had worked as the assistant manager at an Auto Zone store for two years, and as an accountant in a family-run tax and accounting business for seven years. Since joining in 2011, his role and responsibilities have grown. Most recently, he has been instrumental in the monumental task of implementing a new IT infrastructure that will make Verlo stores more efficient and profitable.