Name: Howard Topping
What is your current title/role?
I am Co-Founder and Managing Director at Slumba, LLC, a mattress and pillow company.
How many years have you been working in rent-to-own?
We started Slumba mattress in 2018, and we are 100 percent focused on serving the RTO community.
How did your career path lead you to work with RTO?
My son and business partner originally had the idea of creating a “Bed-in-a-Box” mattress company. We have a good friend who is very involved in rent-to-own, and as we learned more about the industry, the people from APRO and TRIB Group, and the dealers and vendors, we felt a genuine connection. As we reflect on the past six years, we feel extremely fortunate to have been welcomed into the RTO realm and look forward to contributing to the continuing growth and success of the industry.
What is your favorite thing about rent-to-own?
Rental dealers’ terrifically collaborative nature, and their passion to serve their customers and have a positive impact on their lives.
What has been your proudest professional moment?
Working with my son to develop a new brand and an ever-expanding product line.
Why did you want to be a member of APRO’s Vendor Advisory Committee (VAC)?
As a relative newcomer to the industry, I felt my professional experience understanding shopper insights and the positive potential of retail design and branding on the in-store experience would be an opportunity to see the industry from a different, value-added perspective.
What issues do you hope to work on, and what sort of difference do you hope to make, during your time on the VAC?
As a serial entrepreneur, I’m always seeking to learn new things and trying to make a positive impact on whatever comes my way. At the end of the day, I hope to leave any company, association, or industry in a better place than when I found them.
What’s your favorite non-work-related way to spend your time?
I enjoy cooking, shooting competitive skeet, working my birddogs, and spending time with my family.
What’s your “happy place,” and why?
I’m comfortable just about anywhere, but spending time in a big, congested city is my least favorite place to be.
Please share a favorite quotation, lyric, or saying, and what it means to you.
“If you always do what you have always done, you will always know the result.” The world outside your window is always changing, so you must embrace change and innovate.
