Chief Executive Officer
Shelley Huff is the Chief Executive Officer of Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB). Under Shelley’s leadership, SSB is focused on driving forward its mission to help people sleep better and live healthier lives.
Shelley joined SSB in July 2020 as Executive Vice President of Direct to Consumer (DTC) and CEO of Tuft & Needle, was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in April 2021 and was named CEO effective December 2021. Shelley also serves on the Board of Directors of Dawn Holdings, Inc., SSB’s parent company.
Shelley came to SSB after spending more than 15 years in the retail industry, most recently serving as President and CEO of Hayneedle.com, a Walmart-owned online home furnishings destination. Prior to that, Shelley held a variety of leadership roles within Walmart’s U.S. division and at Walmart eCommerce, including serving as the Vice President of Operations at Walmart eCommerce, General Manager of Home and Apparel at Walmart.com and Vice President of Housewares at Walmart U.S.
A native Arizonan, Shelley serves as Chair of the University of Arizona Alumni Association Governing Board, where she is an advisor to the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing and the School of Family and Consumer Sciences. She is also a passionate advocate for public education and endowed the Shelley Huff Scholarship for the Dependents of Teachers at the University of Arizona. In addition, Shelley is a member of the Fortune Most Powerful Women community and an investor in the digital fashion company DressX.
Shelley earned her bachelor’s degree in retailing and consumer sciences from the University of Arizona and her master’s degree from the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Barry Canipe joined the Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB) leadership team as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in August 2019. In this role, Barry serves as strategic business partner to the CEO and is responsible for all aspects of the Company’s finances, including planning and analysis, accounting, risk management, treasury, tax and internal audit, as well as IT functions.
Barry is an experienced and operationally-oriented CFO with 30 years of finance experience. He has a strong track record of value creation and driving large-scale transformation. Barry most recently served as chief administrative officer and chief financial officer of Carestream Health, an international medical imaging systems company.
Prior to his roles with Carestream Health, Barry served in increasingly progressive finance roles with Allied Signal, Honeywell and American Standard Brands, among other organizations. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from James Madison University and a Master of Business Administration from the Darden Graduate Business School at the University of Virginia.
Chief Marketing Officer
Jen Daly is the Chief Marketing Officer of Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB). In this role, she is responsible for brand marketing strategy and activations, consumer insights, creative, and media for all brands in the company’s portfolio. She also leads SSB’s direct retail business. Jen joined SSB in 2020 as the CMO of Tuft & Needle.
Jen has more than 20 years of experience in brand marketing, performance marketing, brand management and e-commerce with a passion for crafting brands with purpose that improve consumers’ lives. She came to SSB from Walmart eCommerce where she spent three years leading marketing for Walmart.com’s home category.
Prior to Walmart, Jen spent more than 10 years at Unilever, where she held several brand management and marketing leadership roles supporting brands including Dove, Degree and TRESemme. While at Unilever, Jen was credited for architecting the turnaround of brands like NEXXUS and POND’s.
During her career, Jen has been named one of the “40 Under 40” Brand Innovators, won Beauty’s Top Talent Award from Cosmetic Executive Women, was named one of Women’s Wear Daily’s “Power 25” and won Adweek’s Media Plan of the Year for her work launching Dove Men.
Jen earned her bachelor’s degree in English and Spanish from Cornell University and her master’s degree in marketing and international business from NYU Stern School of Business.
Chief Strategy Officer
Heather Decker is the Chief Strategy Officer of Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB). In this role, Heather is responsible for working across the business to develop and executive strategies that position the company for the future and support SSB’s mission to help consumers sleep better and live healthier lives. Heather joined SSB in 2020 and most recently served as Senior Vice President of Central Operations and Chief of Staff for SSB’s direct-to-consumer business.
Heather brings an extensive background in retail to SSB with a strong track record in driving omnichannel growth through innovative merchandising strategies and the development of high-performing teams. She came to SSB from Hayneedle.com, a Walmart-owned online home furnishings destination, where she served as the Head of Merchandising. Prior to that, she spent more than two decades at Walmart in roles spanning across merchandising, product development, digital transformation, direct-to-consumer and operations.
Interim Chief Operating Officer
Dan Goldblatt is the Interim Chief Operating Officer of Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB). In this role, Dan is responsible for the company’s operations, supply chain and enterprise-wide customer experience. He also oversees SSB’s manufacturing, sourcing, central operations, customer service, quality, and environmental, health and safety teams. Dan joined SSB in 2019 as the Chief Human Resources Officer.
Throughout his career, Dan has provided HR leadership for manufacturing and distribution businesses. Prior to joining SSB, he served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Acuity Brands, an industrial technology company that provides lighting solutions, where he oversaw all HR functions at the organization. Previously, Dan held various HR leadership roles at Hexion Specialty Chemicals and Trucolor.
Dan earned his bachelor’s degree in United States history from Brown University.
Chief Commercial Officer
Melanie Huet is the Chief Commercial Officer of Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB), responsible for the entire SSB brand portfolio and commercial strategy. In this role, she oversees the brand management, marketing, sales, innovation, direct-to-consumer and retail stores teams. Melanie joined SSB in 2019 as Chief Marketing Officer.
Melanie has extensive marketing experience across multiple categories and disciplines within the consumer-packaged goods industry. She has a track record for building high performing teams and developing long-term strategies for mature businesses. Melanie came to SSB from Kraft Heinz Corporation where she served as Vice President of Marketing, Beverages & Snack Nuts and oversaw iconic brands including Planters, Capri Sun, Kool-Aid and Maxwell House.
Prior to Kraft Heinz, Melanie held several brand management and sales leadership positions at Kimberly-Clark and Unilever. While at Kimberly-Clark, she architected the transformation of PULL-UPS training pants in North America that returned the brand to sustained growth.
Melanie earned a bachelor’s degree in advertising and German from the University of St. Thomas and a master’s degree in business administration from the William E. Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester.
Chief Communications Officer
Danit Marquardt is the Chief Communications Officer of Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB). In this role, Danit oversees all corporate communications, brand communications and internal communications as well as the company’s philanthropic efforts.
Danit has nearly two decades of experience in strategic communications and brand storytelling working with leading consumer brands. She came to SSB from Mattel where she served as Vice President of Global Corporate Communications and was responsible for leading communications strategies that enhanced the company’s reputation, overseeing internal communications, and providing brand communications leadership to the infant preschool business.
Prior to Mattel, Danit spent seven years at Walmart in several corporate and consumer communications leadership roles including serving as Head of Consumer Communications at Walmart.com and leading communications for various divisions of Walmart U.S. She began her career working at PR agencies including Zeno Group and Cohn & Wolfe (now BCW).
Danit earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from Northwestern University. She was recognized by PR Week in the publication’s 2020 40 under 40 list and by the 2021 National Diversity & Leadership Conference with a Leadership Excellence Award.
Chief Sales Officer
Derek Miller serves as Chief Sales Officer for Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB). In this role, Derek directs all sales channels, leads and develops the Sales organization and drives SSB’s sales strategy to expand relationships with customers.
A 20+ year veteran of SSB, Derek first joined the company in 1998 in accounting for our Dallas, Texas factory. Derek became part of the SSB Sales organization in 2000 and rose through the ranks in various account management roles. In 2002, he became a Territory Manager for the north Texas region, and was later promoted to Strategic Account Manager in 2006. In 2011, Derek became a National Account Director. He was then promoted to Vice President of Sales in 2012, responsible for a division of SSB’s national accounts. In 2016, Derek was promoted to Senior Vice President of Sales, with continued focus on driving SSB’s performance in the national account channel.
Derek holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications Studies from the University of North Texas.
Chief Legal Officer & Secretary
Kristen McGuffey was named Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary for Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB) in 2011 and Chief Legal Officer & Secretary in 2020. Kristen is responsible for providing legal counsel to the Serta, Beautyrest, Simmons and Tuft & Needle brands.
Kristen joined Simmons in November 2001 as Vice President, General Counsel & Assistant Secretary. Over the next ten years she served in positions of increasing responsibility including Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary in August 2002 and Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary of Simmons beginning March 2007.
Prior to joining Simmons, Kristen was Executive Vice President, General Counsel at Viewlocity, a global supply chain management software company. Before this role, she was a Partner at Morris, Manning & Martin in the Technology Law Practice. Kristen spent her early legal career as an associate at the firm of the Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker working on matters pertaining to complex litigation, white collar crime, and general corporate law.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Kettering Institute (formerly GMI Engineering Management Institute), a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School, and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia
Chief Human Resources Officer
Esther Ni is the Chief Human Resources Officer of Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB). In this role, Esther is responsible for all human resources functions including compensation and benefits, diversity, equity and inclusion, employee culture and engagement, leadership development, organizational design and talent management. She joined SSB in 2019 and has held a variety of leadership roles most recently serving as Senior Vice President of HR for the company’s operations division.
Esther came to SSB from Acuity Brands, an industrial technology company that provides lighting solutions, where she served as Vice President of HR among other HR leadership roles. Esther began her career in HR working at Target and General Mills.
Esther earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
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