Brian Carroll — Furniture Today
Ritchie steps down as president

ATLANTA — Internet marketing company FurnitureFan has consolidated its offices and operations with those of Impact Consulting Services, its parent company, here.

FurnitureFan, whose directory Web site includes 1,200 furniture retailers and 125 manufacturers, has been offered as an Impact product and service since June 2012.


Because of the consolidation, former president Sev Ritchie has left the company, choosing not to relocate to Atlanta from his home in Boston. He had been with FurnitureFan since 2001.

“I have some opportunities I am investigating, but I have not landed on anything yet,” Ritchie said.

He said he is proud of awareness within the industry that he and FurnitureFan have been able to generate. “When people hear ‘FurnitureFan,’ they immediately think Internet marketing,” he said.

Taking day-to-day management responsibilities for FurnitureFan is Will Curlee, operations manager at Impact. Raj Purohit oversees updates to the site, while Tony Price leads design and graphics.

“The team at Impact will not change, so clients will still be working with the great folks they already are,” Ritchie said. “Clients will not notice any significant changes.”

When Ritchie was named president in late 2003, he replaced founder Gary Chase. At that same time, CEO Mitch Russo and Karen Kirsten, vice president of marketing, also stepped down.

Chase founded the Subury, Mass.-based company as The Furniture Channel, an online industry directory, in 1999. Furniture Channel became FurnitureFan in 2000 when it switched from business-to-consumer to business-to-business.

FurnitureFan and Impact Consulting teamed up in 2012 to offer retailers an array of services relating to Internet strategy. The alliance married FurnitureFan’s experience with search engine strategies and online advertising with Impact’s research in demographics and psychographics, among other areas, to give retailers the ability to do localized Internet advertising. FurnitureFan also develops Web sites for Impact clients.