George Revington, retired President and Chief Operating Officer of Home Meridian International (HMI) and retired Chief Operating Officer of Hooker Furniture, has received the American Home Furnishings Alliance’s (AHFA) highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award.
The award was presented earlier this month during the organization’s 2018 annual meeting at the Montage Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton, SC. The honor is conferred annually to an industry executive selected for his or her contributions to the home furnishings industry, to the AHFA and to their local community. Revington is the 52nd recipient of the honor.
Prior to becoming a principal of HMI, Revington’s longest corporate home was Universal Furniture. He held advancing executive positions in sales and operations, becoming President of the U.S. division in 1995 and CEO of Universal Furniture International in 1997, with responsibility for 25 operations in 13 countries.
At Universal Furniture he pioneered the integration of Asian manufacturing with U.S. marketing. During his tenure, Universal grew from $100 million to $500 million in sales and expanded its product focus from promotional dining to formal dining rooms, bedrooms, occasional and complete collections.
In presenting the 2018 award, Ethan Allen Chairman, CEO and President Farooq Kathwari said Revington’s career was fueled by his ability to adapt to new opportunities, making him a frontrunner as industry business models evolved from domestic production to complex international supply chains. He “led a revolution in supply chain management by being among the first to establish an international headquarters to coordinate manufacturing and quality control along with cost efficiencies and freight competencies,” Kathwari noted.
Revington’s roots in the furniture industry date back to his childhood home of West Lafayette, IN, where he worked on the factory floor of the family business, Peters-Revington (now Chromcraft Revington).
Revington majored in history at Amherst College in Massachusetts and earned an MBA in finance from Indiana University in 1972. He later completed post graduate work in the Advanced Business Management program at the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.
