Scott, Carothers to lead Levitz
Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, January 12, 2004
WOODBURY, N.Y. — Veteran retail executive Mark Scott has been named president and chief operating officer of Levitz Home Furnishings, the parent company of retailers Levitz and Seaman's.
Scott, who most recently held a senior management post at KB Toys, will oversee merchandising, marketing and advertising for the 76-store Levitz chain and 53-store Seaman's.
The president's post had been vacant since the death of Alan Rosenberg in late November.
LHFI also announced that Jay Carothers, who had been acting chief executive officer since Rosenberg's death, has been named chairman and CEO. Carothers, who joined the Top 100 retailer last March as chief operating officer, now oversees the distribution, information systems, finance, store administration, legal and human resources functions.
"We are delighted to have been able to attract executives of both Jay's and Mark's caliber to join LHFI over the past year," said Jim Rubin, co-chairman of Resource Asset Management, LHFI's majority owner. "The addition of Mark solidifies the depth and breadth of our management team and will help us continue to grow the company's revenue, store base and profitability."
In addition to KB Toys, Scott has held senior executive posts at The Bombay Company and Sportmart. He has more than 25 years of experience in merchandising.
"I am looking forward to contributing my full energy and experience to the tremendous growth potential of LHFI," Scott said.
"(I want) to aggressively pursue new opportunities for increasing LHFI's revenue and operating performance."
LHFI is No. 4 on Furniture/Today's survey of the Top 100 U.S. furniture stores. It had estimated furniture, bedding and decorative accessories sales of $965 million in 2002.
