Briggs Named President at Four Hands

January 9, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on January 2007 Matthew Briggs has been named president of Austin, Texas-based importer Four Hands. He had been vice president and chief operating officer for two years, and moving forward, will continue the COO function.

Briggs joined the company in 2001 as director of operations. At the time, Four Hands was an $8 million niche player. In the five years since, Four Hands has been included in the INC 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America three times, and revenue has increased five-fold to $42 million in 2006.

Briggs is credited as the driving force behind the professionalization of the company, instituting rigorous quality assurance protocols, establishing a multi-tiered pricing program, creating an inventory clearance event, and successfully hiring and developing some of the best talent in the industry.

Other significant developments during his tenure have included: the move from a 30,000-square-foot facility to a 70,000-square-foot headquarters in Austin; the establishment of a permanent international operations office in China; landing 20 of the Top 100 U.S. furniture retailers as customers; and most recently, the launch of overseas warehousing.

Current initiatives include a another headquarters expansion-this time to 110,000 square feet; well as the January launch of a permanent showroom in Las Vegas.

He has been directly responsible for purchasing, sales, customer service, shipping, and receiving, as well as international operations. He also personally handles some of the company’s biggest wholesale accounts.

“He has had a profound impact on the development of our company, on our business model and on our culture,” said Four Hands founder Brett Hatton, “He is the voice of reason in our strategic planning meetings, he intuitively understands the customer’s perspective, and he is the best manager of people I have ever seen, bar none. This promotion simply acknowledges what he has been doing for us for years. We are lucky to have him.”