Willowbrook, Illinois-based mattress manufacturer and licensing group King Koil has added Peggy Canevit, Drew Gagnon and Michael Vidoli to its operations team and Al Dambrauskas and David Simpson as regional sales managers.
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- Drew Gagnon
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- David Simpson
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- Peggy Canevit
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- Al Dambrauskas
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- Michael Vidoli
The additions are part of the company’s new domestic manufacturing and sales strategy.
Canevit has been named director of production, information technology and administration. She oversees office support for the company’s operations to manage King Koil’s inventory, scheduling and IT functions. Prior to joining King Koil, Canevit was the IT manager for luxury bedding manufacturer E.S. Kluft & Co. She also held numerous positions with Spring Air from 2001 to 2009, advancing from sales administrator to IT project lead and computer network administrator.
As plant manager for King Koil’s first company-owned factory, Gagnon oversees production and facility efficiencies at the planned 90,000-square-foot factory in Avondale, Arizona. He most recently was operations manager for Sherwood Bedding’s Arizona facility. Prior to that, Gagnon worked for bedding manufacturer Southerland from 2007 to 2014. He joined the company as quality control director and also was assistant plant manager and later operations manager for its Phoenix facility.
Vidoli has been named vice president of operations for the United States. He joined King Koil in 2014 as director of business development and most recently managed corporate operations for strategic accounts. He has more than 30 years in sales, marketing and operations for bedding brands, including Eastman House and Simmons.
Commenting on the appointments, David Binke, chief executive officer of King Koil, said: “Along with Ron (Bruneau, executive vice president of operations), I believe Michael, Drew and Peggy round out the needed expertise in operations and plant management to lay a strong foundation for the rollout of our new growth initiatives. We are thrilled to have them on our team.”
On the sales side, Dambrauskas and Simpson most recently were at E.S. Kluft and previously worked with Binke.
With more than 19 years in the bedding industry, Dambrauskas was a key account manager with E.S. Kluft in the Denver area. Previously, he held sales and sales manager positions with Sealy, Spring Air, Southerland and Simmons.
Simpson, a 21-year veteran of the bedding industry, was regional sales manager for E.S. Kluft in the West. He joined E.S. Kluft in 2009 as a key account manager. Simpson entered the bedding industry in 1997 as a sales representative for Spring Air. During his 12-year tenure, he held a number of positions, including director of sales and regional sales manager.
At King Koil, Dambrauskas and Simpson work to expand the bedding manufacturer’s retail reach under the shift from a licensing organization to a manufacturing platform. They join Howard Galant, executive vice president of sales for the Western division.
“We’re building a team of extremely professional sales leaders as we roll out our new business focus to become the leading domestic manufacturer,” Binke said. “Both David and Al have strong relationships with our retail partners, are well-respected within the industry and understand the King Koil brand direction.”
