President/CEO of Thomasville Furniture, to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award from FIT

Furniture World News

On Tuesday, April 4, 2006, Nancy W. Webster, President/CEO of Thomasville Furniture Industries will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in Home Products from the renowned Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York. The award is to be presented at the FIT 10th annual Scholarship Awards breakfast supporting the college's Home Products Development program to celebrate "a decade of giving back to go forward." Ms. Webster is one of four outstanding home products industry leaders, and the only woman, being honored at the breakfast event to be held at the Waldorf-Astoria Grand Ballroom. Nancy Webster was named President and CEO of Thomasville in September 2005. Immediately prior to joining Thomasville, Ms. Webster was Vice President of Hardlines Product Design and Development for the Target Corporation. At Target, she led a 100-member creative team devoted to in-house design and product innovation and was also involved in brand development and licensing of designer partnerships, including those with Michael Graves and Isaac Mizrahi. During her years in the textile industry, she rose from designer at Cannon Mills to Corporate Officer and Vice President of Creative Development for Fieldcrest Cannon, Inc., and then as Senior Vice President of Creative Development for Springs Industries, Inc. In 1994, Ms. Webster was the first woman recognized by the North Carolina State University College of Textiles as Textile Leader of the Year. In 1995, she was selected as NC State Alumna of the Year. In 2004, home and furniture industry trade publication Home Furnishings Network (HFN) recognized her as one of the most powerful people in fashion and design (behind only Philippe Starck and Martha Stewart). "To be receiving this award is especially gratifying to me personally because FIT helped to change my life at a time when I had the privilege of working and studying at FIT in their student exchange program with NC State University's textiles department. My time at FIT was a life-changing experience, one that helped mold and inspire my career," Webster says. Warren Shoulberg, Editor in Chief of HFN, a home industry trade publication, who has known Nancy Webster throughout most of her career says: "What's always amazed me about Nancy is the range of companies and industries she's been successful in. She came up through the technical side of textiles at Fieldcrest but was able to assume the fashion and product development leadership at Springs without missing a beat. Then she went to Target where she created one of the finest private label products any retailer has ever done. Now she has moved to furniture where I'm sure she'll be equally successful. Few executives, male or female, have been able to make these moves and succeed at each stop. That says a lot about Nancy." Other distinguished industry leaders being honored at the April 4 FIT breakfast event include: Alan Gladstone, chairman/ president/CEO of Anna's Linens, who will receive the Outstanding Achievement award; Carl Goldstein, senior vice president of S. Lichtenberg & Co., who will receive the Humanitarian award; and Marvin Traub, president of Marvin Traub Associates, Inc., to receive the Distinguished Global Leadership award. The Fashion Institute of Technology is a college of art and design, business and technology of the State University of New York, with more than 30 majors leading to the AAS, BFA, BS, MA, and MPS degrees. The FIT program in Home Products Development is the only one of its kind in the country, developed with the assistance of alumni and members of the home furnishings industry, and consists of courses in product development, product knowledge, and marketing specific to the home products industry both in hard (furnishings and accessories) and soft (textiles) line classifications.