Summer Infant Appoints Elizabeth Jackson as Chief Marketing Officer
Industry Veteran to Lead Initiative to Increase Awareness of Core Brands
WOONSOCKET, RI--(Marketwire - Mar 11, 2013) - Summer Infant, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUMR), a global leader in premium juvenile products, today announced that it has hired Elizabeth Jackson as Chief Marketing Officer on a full-time basis, effective April 1, 2013. Jackson has been working with Summer Infant part-time as Interim Chief Marketing Officer since July 2011. She will report directly to President and Chief Executive Officer Jason Macari.
"Elizabeth brings talent, creativity and deep industry experience to her new role as our full-time Chief Marketing Officer as we sharpen our focus on building awareness of our core brands," said Macari. "In addition to her marketing work with large companies with strong brands, including Proctor & Gamble (Pampers), Dunkin Brands and Gillette, Elizabeth has deep experience in the juvenile products market with companies such as The First Years, Dorel, Playtex, Regal & Lager, and Prenatal Cradle. Elizabeth's appointment completes our executive team and we are now well-positioned to execute our growth strategy, including increasing awareness and sales of our core brands -- Summer® and Born Free® -- through a more aggressive marketing strategy. We look forward to Elizabeth's expanded role and her continued contributions."
Prior to joining Summer Infant, Jackson was President of Sedna Marketing Partners, LLC, a company she founded in 2004 to provide consulting services to clients ranging from small startups to Fortune 100 companies. In 2009, Jackson was awarded Providence Business Journal's "40 Under Forty" award. From 2002 to 2004, Jackson served as Vice President, Brand Development, Insights & Planning at The First Years, where she was responsible for brand identity, consumer relationship (advertising, website, promotion, packaging, call center), insights (trends, consumer, and new product development market research), and corporate and marketing strategic planning. From 1993 to 2001, Jackson served in various senior marketing and brand manager roles at companies including Proctor & Gamble, Campbell Soup, and Questia Media. She received a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from INSEAD in Europe.
About Summer Infant, Inc.
Based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, the Company is a designer, marketer and distributor of branded durable juvenile health, safety and wellness products (for ages 0-3 years), which are sold principally to large U.S. retailers. The Company currently sells proprietary products in a number of different categories, including nursery audio/video monitors, safety gates, durable bath products, bed rails, nursery products, booster and potty seats, swaddling blankets, bouncers, travel accessories, highchairs, swings, nursery furniture, infant feeding products, and car seats. For more information about the Company, visit the website: www.summerinfant.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release that are not historical fact may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbor created thereby. These statements include, but are not limited to, those relating to the Company's ability to grow the business and increase brand awareness and sales. The Company cautions that these statements are qualified by important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include the concentration of the Company's business with retail customers; the ability of the Company to compete in its industry; the Company's dependence on key personnel; the Company's reliance on foreign suppliers; the Company's ability to develop and market new products, the Company's ability to meet required financial covenants under its loan agreements, the Company's ability to integrate strategic acquisitions; and other risks as detailed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information contained in this press release.
