Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Furniture First Names Kauffman CEO Following Cifelli Resignation
April 19,
2017 by Larry Thomas in Executive Changes, Industry 
Furniture First has promoted Andrew Kauffman to CEO, following last week’s resignation of Dino Cifelli, who had been CEO of the buying group for less than a year.
Kauffman joined Furniture First in 2011 as director of mattresses, and was promoted to chief operating officer in 2016. During his time overseeing the group’s mattress business, Furniture First launched the retail store concept Mattress 1st, an extension of the group’s private label mattress line that is built by Serta exclusively for the cooperative’s members.
In a notice sent to Furniture First members, Art Scholet, current board chairman and owner of Scholet Furniture, commended Kauffman’s performance and outlined the board’s priorities for Kauffman’s new role, including growing membership, strengthening vendor partnerships, expanding the Mattress 1st program, increasing Tools 2B First enrollment, and developing performance groups for the members of Furniture First.
The buying group said Kauffman will attend the High Point Market, which begins Saturday, and will be in and out of the Furniture First showroom in IHFC G-770.
Cifelli became CEO of Furniture First last October following a 16-year stint at Sleepy’s, where he had been a divisional vice president and regional vice president of sales. No reason was given for last week’s resignation.