Ralph Scozzafava doesn’t beat around the bush: when he agreed to come aboard and run Furniture Brands International in 2007, the company was in a rough financial shape. “Things were not looking so hot around here, to be honest,” Ralph Scozzafava says of the company’s fiscal picture in 2007. This was the year Ralph Scozzafava took over as Chief Executive Officer. “The company was running at a pretty much unsustainable rate, with overheads through the roof, debts in the hundreds of millions and rising, and an operating margin that was fast approaching zero. In short, it was not exactly a rosy outlook.”

Somehow, though, Ralph Scozzafava was able to navigate the company through these rough waters and into a new period of transformation.. Under Ralph Scozzafava’s capable stewardship, Furniture Brands International has undergone a shift in focus, becoming an operating company rather than a holding company in structure. As a result the company has been able to weather the financial storms of the Great Recession and reposition the company to achieve a successful future. No small part of the praise for this goes to Ralph Scozzafava and his team, whose leadership skills and business savvy helped the company weather the worst of its troubles.

Many executives would never even consider signing on to a company with the flagging financial performance and warning signs that Furniture Brands was displaying in 2007, but where others saw only risk, Ralph Scozzafava saw an opportunity to do some good. He came in and implemented some far-reaching changes that have thus far been a marked success and have turned the company’s fortunes around. Ralph Scozzafava has long considered building businesses and fixing companies a specialty of his, and Furniture Brands has been the ultimate test of that ability so far in his career.

“Taking this position with Furniture Brands has been tremendously challenging and rewarding for me,” says Ralph Scozzafava. “It has been difficult at times, to be sure, but the overwhelming feeling I get from the experience is one of great satisfaction. I feel that we have done some really good things to get this company to where it needs to be. Along the way, I’ve had to make some very difficult calls to help get us through, but at the end of the day, that’s what my job entails.”