Manwah Announces New Leaders for Growing Divisions

June 12, 2020  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

"The overwhelming success of our recently launched MW Home division, which is manufactured in China, and the completed transition of Cheers to our new facility in Vietnam, make it necessary to create two separate divisions,” said Ray. “Each division will now be able to focus on their distinctly different product directions and better support our customers’ needs and opportunities. As we emerge from the coronavirus, the landscape is different and we intend to increase our focus on our customers individual needs and strengthen our abilities to react quicker and more effectively to exceed their expectations.”  

“Both Jackson and Gabriel are proven leaders, each with successful records to develop, scale, and grow large businesses within our industry,” Ray added. “They are both respected by the supply side as well as our industry leading customers. With the team we have in place and the support that Manwah will provide them, I am confident they will help us achieve our aggressive growth plans for the industry’s immediate needs as well as our long term goals.”

Carpenter has held the title of SVP of Merchandising for Manwah for the past year where he was instrumental in creating and developing the product direction of MW Home. Before Manwah, Jackson was president of Trayton/Simon Li for over 11 years and has held senior executive positions with other U.S., Italian and Chinese companies.

“MW Home was created to fill a void in the market place for better goods and we hired Jackson over a year ago to help us create this new division. He is respected by the industry and has a unique talent to create outstanding products that are different, the consumer appreciates them, and they sell quickly off the retail floor. It became apparent that there is a bigger need for us to grow MW Home faster than we initially planned. Jackson is the right person with the right talent at the right time to lead and grow this business as its president,” said Ray.

“After a year working with Manwah and the team in both Asia and the U.S., I understand better than most the opportunity for making MW Home one of the fastest growing companies in the industry,” shared Carpenter. “The possibilities are endless with the support of our factory in China and our colleagues who are committed to MW Homes success. When launched last October we understood the opportunity, and I am thrilled to be taking on the responsibility of leading MW Home and producing products found nowhere else in our industry.”

Natale comes to Cheers from Lifestyle Enterprise where he was president for 13 years. Before spending a year as EVP of Merchandising at Home Line Industries, Natale was president of Natale Furniture which at the time was the 4th largest leather upholstery manufacturer in Italy

“Today is the perfect time to be coming on board and joining the Cheers team,” said Natale. “After a lifetime in this industry I understand the needs of our customers as well as the demands that are required to be successful and lead in today's environment. Not many factories are in a position today to support retail requirements with outstanding products at incredible values. This is an opportunity of a lifetime and I am very excited to be joining the experienced team of professionals at Manwah to help take Cheers to the next level.”

“Gabriel's experience in product development, organization, and his retail relationships makes him the perfect leader to run the Cheers business. A business the size of Cheers needs the focus and talent of Gabriel to insure that we meet the needs of our retail partners and maximize Cheers opportunities,” Ray added.