Ed Lilly
Ed Lilly has been running—literally and figuratively—for most of his life. As a track star in high school and college, he piled up an impressive string of victories. As a corporate executive charged with leading whole teams to victory, his eye was seldom off the finish line.
In business as in track, agility, the ability to act strategically and endurance over the long haul lead to success. A look back at Lilly’s long career in the bedding and furniture industries proves the point.
After leaving the Army and working at Philadelphia department store Strawbridge & Clothier for nine years, Lilly joined mattress maker Sealy in 1978. He worked there for 11 years in senior corporate and sales management positions. Landing the Sears account was a highlight of his time with the company.
“I was a good salesman and I was able to convince them that we could, as a single mattress supplier, provide all of the services that three suppliers could,” Lilly says. “The next year, Sealy was chosen as Sears’ Vendor of the Year out of 12,000 vendors.”
Lilly worked his way up to senior vice president of national account sales for both Sealy and its Stearns & Foster brand.
But when the company asked him to move to Cleveland in 1989, he declined and joined Townhouse Penthouse Industries, a Northbrook, Ill.–based manufacturer of private–label upholstered furniture.
“TPI had 14 plants and, in 1989, a volume of about $350 million a year,” Lilly says. “Being the vice president of marketing was a great opportunity.”
Lilly sees all of those positions as preparation for the career challenges that lay ahead.
“I learned the business from the bottom up,” he says. “There’s a real advantage to knowing something inside out. It helps you create strategies that actually work. You grow into responsibility.”
In 1990, Lilly was appointed president and chief executive officer of Serta and, in 2001, was named chairman of the board. When he joined the company, Serta’s sales volume was about $240 million annually. Ten years later, U.S. sales had tripled and Serta was the second–largest mattress producer in the country.
“Being president and CEO for 14 years was the greatest accomplishment of my life,” he says. “Staying that long doesn’t happen these days and was a reflection of what we accomplished. It was very satisfying.”
Lilly left Serta when National Bedding Co.—the largest Serta licensee—acquired control of the corporate entity in 2004.
“I wasn’t ready to retire. The offense and defense of business was still in my blood, but I had no interest in ever working for another corporation,” Lilly says.
In 2005, he founded Lilly Management Group, a consulting firm that provides management and development services to the bedding industry. Staffed by former Serta executives, LMG leverages the talent and experience they once used to triple Serta’s business to help other mattress companies grow theirs.
Although LMG has evolved in a different direction than Lilly originally imagined, he is pleased with what his team has accomplished.
“We have worked with about 350 clients over five years,” he says. “The bulk of our business comes from suppliers and smaller manufacturers. We really duplicate what larger manufacturers do for themselves.”
The bulk of LMG’s business comes from corporate communications, branding and FR programs, but it offers a broad range of consulting services, including strategic planning, procurement, best practices and crisis communications.
In the garden Lilly’s wife, Nancy, is a master gardener and he is her willing apprentice. “Gardening is good for you,” he says. “It gives you time to yourself and allows you to see things in new ways while accomplishing something very satisfying. We go out in the morning with coffee or at night with wine and just look at the garden. It changes all the time.”
Going the distance “I ran five days a week for 40 years—11 miles in a Philadelphia snowstorm once,” Lilly says. Although he stopped for a while in his 50s, Lilly has returned to the sport and finds it a great way to control stress and stay healthy.
Home away from home The Lillys travel to their second home in Santa Fe, N.M., frequently. They love the mountains, the city’s vibrant art scene and attending productions of the world–famous Santa Fe Opera. “We go to the opera as many as five times a season,” he says. “One of my favorite memories is of taking my 14–year–old granddaughter to see backstage at the Santa Fe Opera House.”
Out of necessity… It was need that drew Lilly to woodworking; it’s passion that keeps him interested. “When you’re in retail, you don’t make a lot of money, so you make what you need,” he says. “I’ve been woodworking since early in our marriage and still find making something beautiful and functional out of nothing very pleasing.”
Outlook Although the recession has made growing his firm more challenging, Lilly is a realist. “You have to live in the environment that you live in. I’m one of the fortunate few who have had the opportunity to control my own destiny,” he says. “I don’t need business for fulfillment as much as I used to. I’m much more driven by the process than the end result.”
Bio in brief
| Name | Ed Lilly |
| Company | Lilly Management Group |
| Title | Founder and partner |
| Location | St. Charles, Ill. |
| Education | Lilly earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from St. John’s University in New York. |
| Family | Lilly and his wife, Nancy, have been married for 42 years. They have three children and five grandchildren. |
