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Steve Rolls (Marketing ‘77) has joined Furniture Brands International as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The company, based in St. Louis, is one of the nation’s leading designers, manufacturers, and retailers of home furnishings, with annual sales of approximately $2 billion. Its brand portfolio contains some of the best-known names in home furnishings, including Broyhill, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, Lane and Thomasville.
Rolls’ appointment comes as Furniture Brands International prepares to implement a shared services model across its 17 brands and transform the organization from a holding company into an operating company.
"The opportunity to join the early stages of a strategic transformation is appealing to any business professional," Rolls said. "The fact that Furniture Brands has so many positive elements makes the opportunity that much more appealing. Our strategic plan combines with our improving balance sheet, powerful brands, and global manufacturing to set the stage for Furniture Brands to excel in industry leadership."
Previously, Rolls was Executive Vice President of the Customer Management Group at Convergys Corporation and then joined a privately held environmental technology company in 2006 as Chief Financial Officer. He earned his MBA degree from Ohio State University.
James Ryan, (Marketing ‘80) President and Chief Operating Officer of W.W. Grainger, Inc., has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, 2008. Ryan, who will maintain his position as the company’s President, stated, "We've got a very solid strategy, and what I'm interested in doing is accelerating it even further."
Based in Lake Forest, Illnois, Grainger is the leading broad line distributor of facilities maintenance products such as lighting, motors, cleaning materials, and maintenance supplies to help keep facilities and equipment up and running. The company, which posted sales of $6.4 billion in 2007, serves businesses and institutions through a highly integrated network of more than 600 branches, 18 distribution centers, and multiple web sites designed to provide customers access to products when and where they need them.
Ryan has served Grainger in increasingly responsible roles across the business since 1980. He was appointed to Grainger’s board of directors in February 2007.
In addition to his Miami undergraduate degree, Ryan earned an MBA, with distinction, from DePaul University. In 1999, he was a recipient of DePaul’s Distinguished MBA Alumni Award.
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