Meet our Advisory Board
Meet Our Inaugural Furniture Today Editorial Advisory Board. Our aim is to harness expert insights to craft unforgettable attendee experiences’
Andrew Tepperman
CEO, Tepperman’s Furniture
Andrew Tepperman is the third-generation President of this family-owned business, taking the reins from his father Bill in 2006. Before that, he served the company in myriad capacities including manager and general manager roles for Tepperman’s in London, Ontario. As part of a planned succession Andrew also served in several leadership roles, including warehouse manager, GM, and operations manager.
Rachel Stewart
CEO, Gardner White
Rachel Stewart is the CEO and fourth-generation leader of 112-year-old, family-owned Gardner- White. She has been at the helm as president since 2017. Prior to rejoining the family business Ms. Stewart spent nearly ten years working in the clean energy sector, most recently at the U.S. Department of Energy. Under her leadership the company signed on as the lead sponsor of Detroit’s annual Thanksgiving Day Parade and has consistently grown store-count and sales, today operating a dozen stores and generating over $340 million in sales.
Josh Hudson
CEO, Hudson’s Furniture
Josh Hudson is CEO of this second-generation family business founded in 1981, the same year he and twin brother Adam were born. He was named president of the company in 2011, the same day the company filed for Chapter 11. From that challenging start Josh and his brother Adam have grown the company to encompass 17 stores and more than $85 million in annual sales. Under his leadership the company’s turnaround was so successful that Hudson’s was named HFA’s 2017 Retailer of the Year.
Alex Rubin
VP/Merchandising, Bernie & Phyl’s
Alex Rubin, a third-generation leader at Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture, brings a unique blend of experience to his role as Vice President of Merchandising. After pursuing a career in sports initially (including a stint at ESPN), he returned to the family business in 2014, serving as the company’s merchandising buyer and online product catalog specialist before being promoted to his current position at the beginning of 2023.
Nora Gomez
Chief Merchandising Officer, Nebraska Furniture Mart
Nora Gomez joined NFM in 2018.
Nora is responsible for creating and executing the overall strategy of NFM’s Merchandising Department including buying, financial planning, merchandise planning and inventory flow for all families of business including furniture, flooring, appliances and electronics. Nora is also responsible for visual presentation, store design and store merchandising/display across all regions including, Omaha, The Colony in Texas, Kansas City and Des Moines.
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Nora brings global leadership experience in strategic planning, merchandising, and buying as well as product development, design and sourcing from a distinguished career that began in the Fashion Industry. She has traveled all around the world and brings an eye for trend and curation, while anticipating customers needs across the NFM assortment.
As Chief Merchandising Officer, Nora is focused on identifying strategic opportunities to enhance cross platform experiences and maximize NFM’s vast customer reach through product assortments and brand partnerships that complement the company’s experiential retail strategy. Through NFM’s in-store experience efforts, and channel innovation, she focuses on each customer touchpoint and emotional state by blending the art and science of research and discovery.
Sam Zavary
Owner, CEO, Exclusive Furniture
Sam Zavary founded Exclusive Furniture in 1998, opening his first store in Houston’s Alameda Mall with a single employee. Within 16 months the company opened its second store, more than twice the size of the original. Today the company operates 8 stores and has more than $60 million in annual sales.
Don’t take our word for it…
It’s been a fantastic, fantastic conference. The turnout has been fantastic. It’s good to be back in the same room with people.
We’re really looking forward to all of the new products that we have coming in for our customers. Lots of new products, lots of diversity in terms of different styles, and different models that we’re very excited to have for our customers.
Anytime I get on a panel, I’m happy to do it. It was informative and I thought there was good synergy with the people on the panel. It’s been a lot of great information to take home to the team.
Motivational, inspirational; a lot of things that we can take away to take our business to the next level.
It was so inspirational and it made me think so differently about our business and what’s important. It was fantastic.
Furniture Today is something we live with. The conference is a really good place to come spend a couple of days to review what your ideas and plans are for the coming year.
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