Reps Honor Michael Amini, Paula Shoemaker

March 12, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on March 2007 The International Home Furnishings Representatives Association will present AICO Founder and CEO Michael Amini with the organization’s Pillar of the Industry Award at the 13th Annual Furniture Awards Gala in High Point on March 27.

The Pillar of the Industry Award is presented to an industry leader who has worked to enhance relationships between representatives and other segments of the industry. Amini, who once worked as a furniture sales representative, founded AICO in 1998 in a 220-square-foot warehouse and has built the company into one of the industry’s leading furniture importers.

Previous honorees include Rob Sligh Jr., Ron Wanek, Jerry Epperson and Mike and George Massood.

At the awards event, IHFRA will also honor Paula Shoemaker, a former president of the organization, with the Harold P. Braun Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes a recipient who has served the association and enhanced the image of home furnishings representatives. An IHFRA member since 1981, Shoemaker was the first woman to become the organization’s president when she served a one-year term in 2002.