Furniture First has announced that it has hired Dino Cifelli as CEO of the cooperative buying group. Cifelli comes to the group from Sleepy’s where he served as a Divisional Vice President of Sales and as Regional Vice President over a 16 year tenure with the mattress specialty retailer.
Cifelli started working with Sleepy’s when it was still an independently-owned mom-and-pop regional retailer. He worked there as the company’s growth sky-rocketed, through new store openings and acquisitions. He served as a key player and helped lead the company as it grew from a local NY/NJ bedding Retailer to a regional powerhouse to become the largest Bedding Specialty Retailer. Eventually Sleepy’s became the largest privately-owned and operated specialty mattress retailer in America until it was acquired by Mattress Firm in December of last year.
As a Divisional Vice President of Sales, Cifelli oversaw all sales and operations for 470+ stores. This entailed managing logistics, human resources, asset protection and store operations. As a Regional Vice President at Sleepy’s he managed a territory that grew from the greater New York market to encompass New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware markets.
Prior to joining Sleepy’s, Cifelli was with Levitz Furniture for 18 years. He held various staff and management positions at Levitz in his early years with the retailer, becoming a store manager in 1992. By 1995 he was promoted to a Regional Vice President for the Mid-Atlantic Region, followed by his final office with the firm as Vice President, East Coast, which he held from 1997 to 2000.
Cifelli will assume his new position on October 3, 2016, as the Board of Directors convenes at the group’s headquarters in Harrisburg, PA for a three-day in-person meeting. He will be relocating to the central Pennsylvania area from Hillsdale, NJ.
“We are very excited to have Dino come to Furniture First,” commented Art Scholet, chairman of the board of directors. “We took our time to find the right individual to help lead and grow our group. His experience will help put in place a strategic approach to business development.”