Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Purple Innovation Hires New Chief Financial Officer
November 16,
2017 by Larry Thomas in Executive Changes, Industry 
Mattress producer Purple Innovation, which soon will become a public company, has named Mark Watkins as its chief financial officer.
Watkins most recently served as CFO of wood pellet grill pioneer, Traeger Pellet Grills, a post he held from March 2015 through October 2017. At Traeger, he was responsible for the company's overall financial strategy through a period of rapid growth and expansion.
“We are beyond excited to welcome Mark to the Purple team and look forward to his contribution in reaching our goal to help one million people around the world sleep, sit and stand more comfortably," said Purple CEO Sam Bernards. "Mark's strategic financial experience at both private and public companies will be invaluable as we continue in our journey to combine with GPAC and become a publically listed company."
GPAC stands for Global Partner Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded “shell” company that signed a definitive merger agreement with Purple on Nov. 2.
Prior to working at Traeger, Previously, Watkins held various positions of increasing responsibility at Nu Skin Enterprises, including vice president of sales operations and vice president of finance. He began his career at the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"Purple has achieved incredible milestones in the past two years. I am thrilled to be assuming this role and joining the Purple team as it embarks on its next stage of growth as a public company," said Watkins.