Cwirko leaves WPS for Mohawk Home

SUGAR VALLEY, GA — Kathleen Cwirko is leaving her post at WestPointStevens as senior vp of marketing services to join Mohawk Home as vp of sales, national accounts, replacing veteran Merle Johnson, who recently left the company after 15 years.

"When you have the opportunity to attract people like Kathleen, someone with so many years experience in sales, marketing, licensing, brand management and more, you grab that opportunity and make sure you make them part of your team," Mohawk Home president Bill Kilbride told HTT. "I am very excited to have her join us. She brings more than 20 years experience in home textiles to us, and we feel very lucky to have her."

In response, Cwirko told HTT: "I'm moving on for both personal and professional reasons. It was time to move along and find another world-class company to spend another 20 years with. WestPoint Stevens is a world-class company, and the only other world-class company I'd like to be affiliated with is Mohawk. It's a big corporation with wonderful entrepreneurial spirit."

In her new post, Cwirko will report directly to Larry Hill, national sales manager.

Kilbride said Cwirko will be responsible for sales efforts with certain national accounts. She will remain based in the New York metro area — working both from her home office and from Mohawk Home's showroom at 295 Fifth Ave.

"She has incredible credentials," Kilbride said. "She is a huge asset to us in anything we ask her to do for us and ask her to get involved in. I couldn't be happier. To attract someone of Kathleen's caliber is a huge win for us."

Cwirko said she was looking forward to her new post because she has "missed that direct contact with retailers and customers. This is a wonderful opportunity for me to get back in the saddle, so to speak. I think there are a lot of skills I'll bring to Mohawk that will be very appropriate and applicable as it continues to grow and acquire businesses."

Cwirko has spent her entire career until now with WestPoint Stevens, originally with JP Stevens, before the company was acquired by WestPoint.

"Straight out of school," she said. After earning her bachelor's degree in textile and apparel marketing from New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, Cwirko's first job was in 1983 as a sales representative in the mass merchant area for JP Stevens, "After that I did varied sales jobs and varied business merchandising and product management jobs," added Cwirko, who held her last post for the past five years. "It's been a long and good ride with JP Stevens and then WestPoint."

As of yet, no successor to Cwirko has been named by WestPoint.