Private Equity and Investment  Fund Companies have utilized McCreary & Associates to provide Industry and specific company research data and perspectives to make investment decisions.

McCreary & Associates can provide information focused on project assignement to identify Industry and or company performance, trends, and speciofic international geopolitical factors in play that affect the current/future performance direction. In additon to management, each of the supply chain elements including, consumer and  market focus factors, retail, wholesale, sales & marketing, merchandisng, manufacturing, sourcing, design/product development, as well as vendor/customer linkage to asses and improve positioning and competitive advntages while rediucing disadvatages.

The broad and vertically integrated senior management experience including international in every business segment of Home Furnishings industry and operations as well as a huge global network of business contacts uniquely positions  McCreary to see both the industry business segment interactions and  the "forests and the tree" details so important to driving success and  maximizing efficiencies.

Don during his career period at Ethan Allen Inc served for 10 years as Vice President of Retail Gallery Operations. He was responsible for working with and maximizing the business operations of the independent  franchised store network, including international store development. He managed and achieved during this period co-ordinated marketing/advertising and implementtation of a completly new store display, product and lifestyle projection. He manageed the field organization and visual merchandiisng groups, as well as the private label credit card program. He was  the key  communication and liason to the owner network.

This lengthy career period enabled a deep understanding of retail/operations and consumer satisfaction processes to create succesfull and profitable retail business success.

•Responsible for developing/opening/coordinating international dealer franchised retail stores in Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Dubai, Kuwait as well as the United States and Canada. *Managed ownership changes from franchised to corporate.
• Facilitated updated operational P&L/budgeting to improve profitability, operations and created an environment of identifying, developing, implementing, and sharing best practices to become operational standards.
• Had a key role in developing and implementing innovations, standards of operation and new image store façades/display and geographically varied size/store display protos for all retail stores and operational structure using technology.

Don's broad industry senior management career vertical supply chain integration experiences at Ethan Allen and later in the consulting business in global parts/item sourcing, product development, manufacturing  demand planning, transportation logisitcs, warehousing and retail/retail operations including final mile delivery to the consumer have provided a unique knowledge perpsective for him. 

Don has experience  setting  up complete corporate structure organizations including IT,warehousing and logisitics in essence from base zero.

The McCreary & Associates network of specialists/experts range from packaging to engeneering to warehousing and distribution.

Don has 4 decades of extensive global design and product development  as well as product designer contacts and is a member of the International Society of Furniture Designers ISFD .  He has worked sucessfully with staff, freelance and third party product designers. He has nterfaced engeneering, compliance, packaging and  merchansing perspectives to develop best practices/processes to maximize success.  He has great expertise in matching product to manufacturing strengths.

He has operatied in large and small companies both public and provate.The ability to analyse the market and identify market voids, developing consumer needs and functional, fashionable, aspirational products with pricing that projects value and profitabilty balance (at wholesale and retail ) became fun and not work for him. It is a personal passion.

Early in Don's career he develped a passion for home furinishings and specifically the merchandisng, design and product development process that is so closely aligned together. The ability to analyse the market and identify market voids, developing consumer needs and functional, fashionable, aspirational products with pricing that projects value and profitabilty balance (at wholesale and retail ) became fun and not work for him.

 The skill set to analyse company strengths and match to market need is a strength that McCreary & Associates offers. He has extensive pricing and  vendor/manufacturer negotiation skills. He has managed demand planning and global sourincg. His experience in vertically integrated cpmanies like Bassett and Ethan Allen are critical factors.

Early in Don's career a great manufacturing  mentor John Bassett III established and facilitated the reality,  to be succesfull in furniture, you must know manufacturing and product development as well  as sales & marketing during the Bassett and Natioonal/Mt.Airy career period.

Later at Ethan Allen in the Knob Creek/Kling division,  as general manager, Don managed the upholstery plant in  Morganton and  was deeply involved in the Ethan Allen caegoods plant operations that later with Ethan Allen management responsibilites expanded as well and  included upholstery, lighting and accents.. Don played a key role in repositioning manufacturing to blend sourced/manufactured  product to maximize efficiencies, as wella sdeterminingh where products were prpduced. Don played a key role in the Ethan Allen transition to casegoods custom "just in time"  production  "supermarket of  parts" demand planning where every item was built to order. Don played a key role in updating the Ethan Allen manufacturing "standards of operations"  in conjuctions with engeneering and merchandising.

Don's responsibiliies as Vice President of Product Development/Souricng resulted in him developing and working closely with the "best of the best" Asian manufacturers as well as key doemstic manufactuers.  He understands manufacturing operations in all the home furnishing product categories. 

During Don's Ethan Allen career period one of key key senior mananagemnt roles was Vice President of Product Development and Global Sourcing .

• During this period, he took on the major strategic directional change responsibility of developing and managing the transition from an exclusive internal manufacturing company to a integrated blend of internal and outsourced supply chain, which resulted in Ethan Allen ultimately reducing Upholstery & Wood manufacturing operations in the USA and adding facilities in Mexico and Honduras. Implemented plant efficiency best practices utilization/layout innovations.
• Responsible for developing and managing an outsourced business that was the top profit contributor to the company. This includes developing and managing all vendor relationships,demand planning and logistics..

• Created an integrated and focused organization worldwide to source products/components directly with vendors that also holds the manufacturer responsible for the execution of construction and quality standards that are one of the highest in the industry and including timely delivery.
• Responsibility for managing the production scheduling, inventory, quality assurance and determining where products are produced in corporately owned manufacturing facilities in the USA, Mexico and Honduras.
• Responsible for developing best practices/managing the corporate quality assurance aspects in all key product categories and especially in Wood and Upholstery.
• Managed the successful transition of domestic casegoods manufacturing to “just in time” custom options with dramatically reduced finished goods inventory.
• Directly involved in product development with the Vice Presidents of Product Design and Merchandising. including the pricing of products.
* Senior Director of Corp. product engineering was a direct report.
• Played a direct role in negotiating and developing the Ethan Allen China retail that is currently 100+ design centers with Markor, while also managing international retail development.

Four decades of global  home furnishings experience in developing, manufacturing sourcing, merchandising and retailing upscale products has established strong quality assurance, compliance to standards through establishing and executng specific standards and processes as part of the design/product development/engeneering process in advance of and including production, packaging and transportation to the final consumer.

At Ethan Allen, we established a quality assurance system/process that was world class and included interactive retail consumer proactive tracking of issues and solution processes to correct and finesse product on a ongoing basis that resulted in the lowest industry returns/allowances KPI's. A critical part of this was retail sales person/designer education/training/website product information that reduced significantly consumer mis-perceptions that lead to consumer preferance issues.

Early in Don's 4 decade career, he  held sales manager positions on a regional and national basis.  He progressed to be deeply involved in Sales & Marketing at the wholesale level , then in a vertically integrated retail company Ethan Allen to include retail with both corporately and indepnedently owned retail stores internaitonally. His experience includes ecommerce and omni-channel marketing in both the residential and contract/government sectors. He has experience with all forms of advertising, including sales training, national television, point of sale,  catalogues/mailers and social media.

McCreary & Associates industry/company research and  acxqiired broad industry  knowledge, has given him insight into sales & marketing strategies at  companies throughout the industry both smaol amndf large as well with a broaod range of pricing/consumer focus from entry level to premium luxury.

Don McCreary in his career senior executive roles at Ethan Allen Inc. Bassett and the Knob Creek and National/Mt.Airy subsiidaries  has  been deeply involved in  all areas  of business development at both retail and wholesale as well as at a vertically integrated company both public and private. He has been responsible for successful international store development as well as franchise developmemnt and  operations. He has experience balancing both  corporately owned and indepenedent  retail in the same company. In addition he has managed operational execution and ongoing retention of business partners/partnerships in  the retail, wholeale and manufacturing/sourcing  segments.

His interpersonal, communication, innovation, negotiation and entreprenural skills are proven, and backed with successful  best practices/processes experience.