Furniture Brands International Names Blain Wrench as Vice President, Retail Development

Furniture World News

W.G. (Mickey) Holliman, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Furniture Brands International, Inc. announced the appointment of H. Blain Wrench as Vice President, Retail Development of Furniture Brands. Mr. Wrench has spent substantially all of his professional career in roles of increasing responsibility at Drexel Heritage, a subsidiary of Furniture Brands. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Retail Development for Drexel Heritage, and prior to that he was Vice President of Sales for the Southern Region. Earlier in his career he was President of Brittain's Fine Furniture in Houston Texas, a furniture retailer with four high-end stores. In this newly-created position with Furniture Brands, Mr. Wrench will oversee all aspects of the location and construction of the company's system of single-brand stores. The actual operation of the stores once open for business will continue to be in the hands of independent retailers or, in the case of company-owned stores, with retail operating personnel at the company's Brands. Mr. Holliman said, "Blain has proven himself an outstanding manager with extensive experience in retail development. The proper distribution of our products is one of the company's strategic initiatives, and I am pleased that Blain has agreed to undertake this important role to help us drive this strategy. This move is evidence of our commitment to further strengthen the company's management and to leverage our resources across the Brands." Furniture Brands International is America's largest home furnishings manufacturer, manufacturing and sourcing its products under six of the best-known brand names in the industry - Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Henredon, Drexel Heritage and Maitland-Smith. The company markets its products across a broad spectrum of price categories and distributes its products through an extensive system of independently owned national, regional and local retailers.