Calhoun, Ga.–Marketing strategist Karen Mendelsohn has been named senior vice president of marketing at Mohawk Industries. In this position, Mendelsohn will be responsible for the overall creation and implementation of marketing strategies to drive dynamic new growth across Mohawk’s North America Flooring businesses.
Mendelsohn steps into her role as chief marketing leader of Mohawk North America Flooring with a wealth of experience in corporate and operations planning, brand development and management and eBusiness strategy.
“We are pleased to have Karen Mendelsohn on our team,” said Brian Carson, president of Mohawk Flooring. “As a proven leader, Karen brings exceptional business experience and drive to take Mohawk even further on its journey as the pioneer in flooring, product innovation and digital marketing. She is a great fit for Mohawk and our culture of perpetual innovation.”
Mendelsohn, a 30-year veteran of the building products industry, earned an MBA from Columbia University and spent more than 15 years in strategic, sales and marketing leadership at Masco, a supplier of brand-name building products and services. Before that, she was vice president of marketing at Delta Faucet Co. for a period of 12 years.
Mohawk is already a leader in digital within the flooring industry. Under Mendelsohn’s leadership, the company will further innovate its digital strategy and social presence to resonate and build connections with consumers to drive increased traffic to Mohawk retailer locations.
“Today’s consumers are shifting the way they research and select products,” Mendelsohn said. “It is important for senior executives to fully embrace eBusiness as one of the most critical levers for strategy deployment. That is just a part of what I will be doing at Mohawk.
“On a larger scale, I will be helping to shape a vision and build a marketing plan to further position Mohawk as the supplier of choice with customers across complex and fragmented distribution channels,” Mendelsohn continued. “This will involve leveraging brand management, integrated marketing communications and digital and insights-led customer engagement tools to help Mohawk evolve and engage customers and end-users across new and traditional marketing channels. It is an exciting mission, and I thank Mohawk for giving me the opportunity to be a part of it.”
Mendelsohn is the 2014 City of Hope Spirit of Life Honoree, the hardware/homebuilding industry’s highest honor. She serves on the executive council of City of Hope and sits on the board of directors of HomeAid America. She is also a founding board member of the Homebuilding Community Foundation.
FCNews recently sat down with Mendelsohn for an exclusive interview in its Sept. 5 issue.