Bedding veteran John Rachid has been named president of Protect-A-Bed, a new position.
Rachid, who is leaving his post as executive group vice president of sales at Serta Simmons Bedding, will report to James Bell, CEO of Protect-A-Bed.
“After a comprehensive executive search process, I am very pleased to name a proven leader and highly qualified individual of John’s caliber to be the Protect-A-Bed president,” Bell said. “John is a well-respected industry executive with a winning track record. He has a solid history of building strategic relationships with retailers and a proven ability to develop high-performance teams. We are confident that his expertise in these key areas will add significant value to our retail partners and Protect-A-Bed.”
Rachid has more than 24 years of experience in the bedding and furniture industry. He spent most of his career as group vice president of national accounts for the Serta brand and most recently has been executive group vice president of sales at SSB, where he was instrumental in establishing and growing several key channels of distribution and maintaining the leading market share position for his brands in these channels, Bell said.
“Protect-A-Bed is an outstanding company with great innovative products, vision and leadership,” Rachid said. “For years, I have been very impressed with James Bell’s focus on building strong brands, his passion, and the relationships he has developed with retailers based on vision and value. I am honored by James’ confidence in me as the next leader of this innovative company, and I look forward to working with the entire Protect-A-Bed team to build upon the company’s strategy and drive continued growth with long-term value for the benefit of all our retailers.”
Rachid will stay in his current position at SSB until Aug. 15 to help with the transition there. Before joining Serta in 1998, Rachid worked for Sealy.
(Source: FurnitureToday) 
Mike Lewis
Mike Lewis is a Premier Rental Purchase franchisee with multiple stores and currently serves as Vice President of Operations. With 33 years of experience in the rent-to-own industry, he has spent the past 20 years working closely with franchisee owners and previously spent 12 years in Corporate RTO, gaining a strong foundation in the business.
For the past five years, Mike has been sharing his knowledge by teaching managers and franchisees at the company’s Training Center.
Outside of work, he enjoys time with his family, kids, and grandkids, and appreciates the simple things in life – especially riding his Harley Davidson with the sun on his face. If you know, you know!
