Furniture Today to celebrate Nation’s 50-year industry career at 2025 Bedding Conference

HIGH POINT – Longtime manufacturing industry executive Jim Nation is the honoree for Furniture Today’s 2025 Bedding Manufacturing Lifetime Achievement Award.

With 50 years’ experience in the mattress and sleep industry, Nation has had a lengthy career that started when he was in high school at Richards Department Store in Miami and has spanned some of the bedding industry’s largest brands, including Sealy, Serta and Spring Air. His first job with Richards was loading trucks and from there, he climbed the ranks to bedding buyer, store manager and beyond. At the age of 23, he spearheaded the defeat efforts of the Teamsters Union to organize the retailer’s truck drivers.

Furniture Today will celebrate Nation’s industry contributions at its 20th annual Bedding Conference May 13-15 at the Signia Hotel by Hilton in Orlando, Fla., during the awards dinner.

From Richards he joined E.B. Malone, which later became Bassett Bedding, in Florida. He then joined Ohio-Sealy, where he worked on the Sears account.

Nation spent 17 years with Spring Air, which he joined in 1990 to lead the company’s national accounts. Nation was later named president and CEO in 1995, a position he held until 2007 when he resigned following the merger of Spring Air with its largest licensee Consolidated Bedding in Florida.

During his time with Serta, he was president of business development for the U.S. and Canada, and in 2017 he joined Southerland as executive vice president of national accounts and international licensing.

Currently, Nation is vice president of national accounts for South Bay International where he is expanding the company’s national retail partnerships, sales strategies and business development initiatives.

In addition to his executive roles, Nation served the industry through a number of positions with the International Sleep Products Association. He served as chair of the board of directors, sat on the ISPA executive committee and board of trustees and was a member of the Better Sleep Council and finance committee.

The awards dinner and celebration will be held Wednesday, May 14 at 7 p.m., following a cocktail reception. In addition to Nation, Furniture Today will honor Ken Larson, founder of Slumberland, with the Bedding Retail Lifetime Achievement Award; Bob’s Discount Furniture and Turner’s Fine Furniture with the Retail Giants of Bedding awards; and five retail sales associates – Travis Burton, NFM; Nicole Copeland, Happy Zzz’s; John Harding, Jordan’s Furniture; and Frank Palazola, Bailey’s Furniture – for excellence. Additional information, including the agenda and registration details, can be found online.

See also:

• Furniture Today to honor Bob’s Discount Furniture at 2025 Bedding Conference
• Furniture Today to honor Turner’s Fine Furniture at 2025 Bedding Conference
• Furniture Today to honor 5 outstanding retail sales associates at 2025 Bedding Conference