LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill.–Focus Products Group, LLC, which targets the consumer, hospitality and foodservice markets and includes the housewares brands Amco, Chicago Metallic, Swing-A-Way and XHP, has added four executives to its team.
Karen Swinford has joined the company as president of retail, where she will report to and work closely with Jeff Ackerberg, CEO, to amplify the company’s consumer-driven business model. She was most recently at Wilton for more than 10 years, most recently as general manager for Wilton Housewares and Copco.
“Having spent the majority of her career in the housewares industry, Karen is distinctly qualified to help us empower and grow our retail businesses and to establish a sustainable competitive advantage to move all brand categories forward. Her breadth of experience will be a great asset as she establishes the retail team as a market-driven growth engine for Focus,” said Ackerberg.
Also reporting directly to Ackerberg is Bill Bucklew, who joined the company in December 2011 in the newly created position of vice president of innovation. In this position, Bucklew will lead the product development functions – including engineering and industrial design – across all Focus Products divisions. Before joining the company, Bucklew was vice president of engineering for Tegrant Corp.
“It is a great pleasure to join the talented and dedicated team members at Focus,” said Bucklew. “Together, we will build upon our excellent base of products and categories to deliver innovative, market-driven solutions rooted in consumer insight, which will be the primary growth engine of the company.”
Reporting directly to Swinford are the newly appointed Scott Spielmann, vice president of national accounts, and Joe Hodorowicz, vice president of sales, housewares. With more than 25 years of consumer product sales and sales management experience, Spielmann was previously director of sales at Jarden Consumer Solutions and vice president, national accounts at Spectrum Brands. Hodorowicz briefly served as vice president of sales for Columbian Home Products and for six years at the Trudeau Corporation in a similar capacity.
“Due to our investments in outstanding team players, efficient processes and innovation, we are poised for increased revenue growth and profitability in 2012 while delivering meaningful innovation that will create brand loyalty for our consumers,” Ackerberg said.