IMC Creates New Business Unit, Realigns Sales, Marketing Duties

December 16, 2016  by Larry Thomas in Business Strategy, Industry   

The changes, which are effective Jan. 1, involve creation of more vertical category responsibilities to better serve cross-market customers, as well as internal promotions for several senior staff members.

IMC officials said the new home furnishings business unit will include all furniture, accessory, casual and bedding accounts across its campuses in High Point and Las Vegas.

As part of the customer analysis, IMC identified more than 100 accounts that were previously within the home décor business unit in Las Vegas but within the furniture business unit in High Point, so now those customers will have one primary point of contact for both markets. 

Gift leasing, which is specific to Las Vegas Market, will remain a separate business unit, officials said.

“These customer-facing changes are the result of a year-long IMC examination of our leasing organizational structure, the goal of which was to identify opportunities to improve collaboration, cross-selling, value creation, and customer experience,” said Robert Maricich, CEO of IMC.  “This new account-based leasing organization, under which agents manage vertical categories across both campuses, not only achieves these goals, but also allows us to recognize and reward several key members of our team.  I am confident that these changes will result in a more cohesive and collaborative leasing organization and will enable our already highly successful team to take our business to the next level.”

The new home furnishings business unit will be led by Julie Messner and Ryan Mahoney, who will continue to report to Scott Eckman, who will assume the new title of president of furniture and home décor leasing/chief strategy officer.

Messner, senior vice president of furniture and home décor leasing, will continue to manage traditional furniture accounts, with additional new responsibility for all home accent and accessory accounts, high-end and designer channel home furnishings, the Las Vegas Design Center and Showtime, as well as all temporary tradeshow leasing in High Point.

Mahoney, newly promoted to senior vice president of furniture leasing, will assume cross-campus responsibility for furniture and bedding accounts, in addition to his current responsibility for temporary furniture leasing in Las Vegas.

Lee Hershberg, assumes the new role of vice president of home décor leasing and Las Vegas Design Center.  In this role, Hershberg assumes cross campus responsibility for key account performance within this business unit leveraging his experience and relationships in the industry.  He also assumes responsibility for daily management of the LVDC, establishing partnerships with key accounts and related industry resources to support audience-building initiatives in Las Vegas. Lee will report to Messner.

Rhonda Jackson, director of leasing, will assume responsibility for management of tradeshow leasing in High Point.  In line with this change, Laura Price, Angie Nelson, Susan Beck and Grisselle Perez will report to Jackson.

Dorothy Belshaw will continue in her role as IMC’s president of gift leasing.  Terence Morris, who is being promoted to senior vice president of gift and tradeshow leasing, will oversee all Las Vegas Market gift-specific permanent showroom and gift and home décor temporary exhibit leasing in the Pavilions, reporting to Belshaw.
 
In line with these changes, Belshaw also will assume the role of chief marketing officer, a role formerly held by Eckman, with oversight of the Marketing Department and associated Digital initiatives.

Karen Olson, senior vice president of marketing, will report to Belshaw, with continued responsibility for marketing strategy and implementation for High Point and Las Vegas Market. She also will work with Belshaw to drive the development and implementation of IMC’s new digital strategies.

“We have identified gift verticals and digital initiatives as important opportunities for strategic growth beyond our core, and this restructuring puts in place key internal resources to pursue that growth and further define the ‘what’s next’ for IMC,” said Maricich. “As our Las Vegas Market nears full occupancy, we expect that this organizational restructuring will further maximize the impact of marketing and digital initiatives designed to drive market attendance and increase return on investment for our customers.”