Chief Executive Officer
As of April 2019, Mr. Swift is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC (SSB). He also serves as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dawn Holdings, Inc., SSB’s parent company. Mr. Swift is also Executive Business Partner at Advent International, a role he has held since August 2014.
Prior to this, Mr. Swift was President and Chief Executive Officer, and Board Member, of Goodman Manufacturing from April 2008 to April 2014. Following Daikin’s acquisition of Goodman, Mr. Swift was a member of the Board of Directors of Daikin Industries, Limited (TSX: 6367), for over two years.
Before joining Goodman, Mr. Swift served in a variety of senior leadership roles at Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR), most recently as President, and Board Member, of Whirlpool from December 2005.
Before joining Whirlpool in October 2001, Mr. Swift served as the President of Eastman Kodak Company’s Professional Group, prior to which he served as the Chairman and President of Kodak’s Greater Asian Region based in Shanghai, China for more than four years.
Mr. Swift currently is non-Executive Chairman of ATI Physical Therapy and a member of the Board of Overseers of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. Mr. Swift was non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cotiviti (NYSE: COTV) from 2014 until its sale in 2018. He holds a B.A., with Honors, in Physics and Mathematics from Amherst College, a Master’s degree in Engineering from Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College and an MBA, with Honors, from Harvard Business School.
Chief of Staff
Ed Babrich was named Chief of Staff for Serta Simmons Bedding in October 2019. He leads development and implementation of the company’s business system that will help SSB achieve its strategic business priorities.
Ed joined SSB from Advent International, the private equity firm that is majority owner of SSB. Ed served as Director in the Portfolio Support Group and had been the primary Advent support lead for SSB since 2018. Prior to joining Advent, Ed spent 11 years in transformation leadership roles, helping drive turnarounds at companies in the United States and Europe, including Bridgestone and Philips.
Earlier in his career, Ed held operational business roles at Thales Avionics, Arris, and Thomson CSF. He began his career as an officer in the United States Air Force and is a decorated Desert Storm veteran.
Ed earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Western New England College. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt and has a wealth of experience in Lean continuous improvement and program management.
Ed and his wife reside in Atlanta.
Chief Transformation Officer
David Campos joined SSB in January 2019 as Chief Transformation Officer. In this role, he is responsible for building and executing a company-wide business system that accelerates SSB’s strategy to maintain and grow the company’s market-leading position in both traditional and new sales channels.
David has a strong track record driving business transformation. He most recently was VP and GM of the Kimberly Clark Professional business unit Latin America. He was with Kimberly Clark for 10 years in various strategic, business development and country management roles, including serving as Country Manager for Spain & Portugal for the B2C business, Sales Leader of the U.S. Costco Business, and Director of Corporate Strategy.
David began his career with Procter and Gamble in engineering and operations roles, and later joined McKinsey, where he focused on operations improvement and transformation for clients. During his seven-year tenure at McKinsey, David was based out of the Bogota, Chicago, and Johannesburg offices and focused on leading large-scale performance transformations across multiple industries.
Originally from Colombia, David graduated with honors from the University of Los Andes and later earned a Master’s in Management and a Master’s in Engineering from MIT
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.
Executive Vice President of HR
Dan Goldblatt joined SSB in January 2019 as Executive Vice President of Human Resources and is responsible for the HR strategy supporting SSB’s business plan and strategic direction. He provides leadership and support for SSB’s transformation and growth.
Prior to joining SSB, Dan served as senior vice president of Human Resources for Acuity Brands Lighting, and was the key strategic business partner to President, CEO and CFO. He led the development of all HR strategies for key business functions and provided strategic guidance to the Board of Directors Compensation Committee.
Dan has specialized in HR for more than 20 years. Prior to Acuity, Dan held progressive HR leadership roles with Hexion Specialty Chemicals and Trucolor. He also has experience in manufacturing and distribution.
Dan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and United States History from Brown University of Providence, Rhode Island.
Chief Marketing Officer
Melanie Huet joined SSB in January 2019 as Chief Marketing Officer. Melanie leads SSB’s evolution to becoming a more customer-centric company and directs the Marketing and Innovation functions, strengthening all brands and growing portfolio revenue.
She is responsible for all marketing and advertising initiatives for the SSB house of brands, and evaluates new marketing technology opportunities and channels to reach customers more directly. She also leads SSB’s Innovation team to deliver cutting edge products and technology across SSB’s portfolio.
Melanie has extensive Marketing experience across multiple categories and disciplines within consumer packaged goods. She has a track record for building high performing teams, developing long term strategies and consistently architecting and executing turnarounds on declining mature businesses. Most recently, Melanie was Vice President of Marketing, Beverages & Snack Nuts at Kraft Heinz Corporation, where she was responsible for a $4B portfolio including iconic brands like Planters, Capri Sun, Kool-Aid and Maxwell House.
Prior to Kraft Heinz, Melanie progressed through brand management roles at Kimberly-Clark and Unilever. While at Kimberly-Clark, she architected a transformation of PULL-UPS® training pants in North America that reversed several years of declining sales and share and returned the category and the brand to sustained healthy growth. Ms. Huet has achieved similar results on HUGGIES® diapers and Lipton® tea.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in Advertising and German from the University of St. Thomas and a Master of Business Administration from the William E. Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester.
Chief Strategy Officer, SSB Co-Founder, Tuft & Needle
John-Thomas “JT” Marino joined Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB) as Chief Strategy Officer in September 2018 with the merger of SSB and Tuft & Needle (T&N). He is also the co-founder and chief visionary of Tuft & Needle, the original pioneer of the digitally-native mattress category. As Chief Strategy Officer for SSB, JT is responsible for driving consumer centricity across SSB.
JT also leads Tuft & Needle (T&N) product innovation, design, and marketing, and has been instrumental in redefining the sleep industry and retail experience through the company’s rapid nationwide retail expansion, award-winning company culture and evolving product offering.
With a $6,000 personal investment in 2012, JT and his business partner, Daehee Park, have grown T&N from $1 million in their first full year of business to $170 million+ in annual revenue in less than six years. T&N is now reimagining how mattresses are sold, showcasing its award-winning retail concept in Scottsdale, Gilbert, Seattle and Kansas City.
Prior to T&N, JT combined principles from both design and engineering to develop future-forward software products in the high-tech industry, and has applied this same discipline to reimagining the sleep industry. JT began his career as an engineer at the world’s leading software application consultancy, where he accelerated his experience by working amongst the foremost thought leaders and tech leaders for VC-funded startups and Fortune 500 companies.
JT studied computer science and mathematics at the Pennsylvania State University.
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.
Executive Vice President,General Counsel & Secretary
Kristen McGuffey was named Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary for Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB) in 2011. Kristen is responsible for providing legal counsel to the Serta, Beautyrest and Tomorrow 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 International Law Firm Morris, Manning & Martin in the Technology Law Practice. Kristen spent her early legal career as an associate at the firm of 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.
Advisor
Daehee Park joined Serta Simmons Bedding as an advisor in September 2018. He is also a co-founder of Tuft & Needle, the original pioneer of the digitally-native mattress category.
With a $6,000 personal investment in 2012, Daehee and his business partner, JT Marino, have grown T&N from $1 million in their first full year of business to $170 million+ in annual revenue in less than six years. T&N is now reimagining how mattresses are sold, showcasing its award-winning retail concept in Scottsdale, Gilbert, Seattle and Kansas City.
Prior to starting T&N, Daehee began his career at Acxiom as a marketing strategy consultant, serving as a subject matter expert on emerging media for a diverse client roster of Fortune 500 companies across the retail, consumer goods, financial services, and insurance industries. He then joined one of the premiere social commerce startups in Silicon Valley, where he architected the platform monetization strategy and developed partnerships with top e-commerce retailers.
Daehee earned his bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity from the Pennsylvania State University.
President, Canada
Shawn Trinier joined Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB) as President, of Canada, in 2015. Shawn oversees all areas of the business that contribute to the growth of sales and profits for the Serta and Simmons Beautyrest brands in Canada. With approximately 850 employees in Canada, six manufacturing sites and a corporate office, Shawn is responsible for all strategic retailer and supplier relationships, brand initiatives, and operations performance.
Previously, Shawn was General Manager of Grohe Canada, a leading provider of premium kitchen and bath faucets, showers and shower systems, where he was responsible for activating strategies and channels that led to the Company’s impressive market growth across the region.
Prior to Grohe, Shawn served as President and CEO of Ontario-based Aquaterra Corporation, a producer and distributor of bottled drinking water and water filtration systems. While there, Shawn led major organizational changes that effectively enhanced customer’s brand experience while significantly driving revenue and profitability for the Company. Under his leadership, Aquaterra was named a Deloitte Top 50 Best Managed Company.
Shawn began his career at Pepsi Cola Canada where he held positions of increasing responsibility ranging from Food Service Manager to Director of Trade Development and Strategy for the Corporation. After Pepsi Cola, Shawn was an executive at Grand and Toy, a Toronto-based office supplies chain, and Sanimax, a provider of by-product collection services and specialized maintenance for the restaurant industry.
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