Different Perspectives at HFA

HFA Reports

Joining HFAs executive committee are RandiLynn Talsma of Blended Furniture, Salvador Llanos of FAMSA, Jared Simon of Simon’s Furniture and Eric Easter of Kittle’s.

Each year it is a ritual passing of the gavel. We approve the new year’s slate of officers and leaders on the HFA Board at our annual membership meeting. Our board is made up of stakeholders, retailers, and manufacturers; we represent each day in all we do.

As an example, Jesús Capó, the Chief Information Officer at El Dorado Furniture, a family-owned furniture chain in Florida, ends his stint on our HFA board of directors. The way it works in our association when you elevate to the officer level, you ascend from secretary-treasurer, vice president, president-elect, president, and then chairman. At that point, you have to rotate off for at least a year. The officer tenure should be a total of five years. Jesús, our chairman, is ending his sixth year. Why?

Back in 2019, we lost a few key board members to life changes, and in an unprecedented fashion, all officers were asked to extend their tenure for an additional year. And, 2020 proved to be like no other. As someone who took over as CEO in 2020, in the early throes of the pandemic, I am not sure we could have become the HFA we are today, a battle-tested, member-centric, industry-first association without Jesús’ leadership.

David Gunn, an owner of Knight Furniture in Texas moves into the chairman role. Jesús represents a Top-100 retailer, while David has a mid-sized operation. Differing perspectives are essential to progress at HFA and I am thrilled that moving onto our executive committee in 2022 is a talented group, diverse in age, gender, store demographics, and experience. They are RandiLynn Talsma of Blended Furniture in Michigan, Salvador Llanos of FAMSA in California, Jared Simon of Simon’s Furniture in Massachusetts, and Eric Easter of Kittle’s from Indiana.

This year is critical for HFA. As we come into the third year of the pandemic, the HFA board is working on strategic development as they start to chart a ten-year vision for the association.

My message is this. Your association is positioning itself for whatever disruptions lie ahead. Board leadership is committed to charting the course. Their diversity will represent you well in that process.

Pictured from left to right are RandiLynn Talsma of Blended Furniture in Michigan, Salvador Llanos of FAMSA in California, Jared Simon of Simon’s Furniture in Massachusetts, and Eric Easter of Kittle’s from Indiana.

For more information on what HFA is doing to empower furniture retailers for continued success, join the community at myhfa.org .