August 23, 2004

 WEST WARWICK, RI  -- Mark J. Ferullo has resigned as president of Central Oriental, a division of Natco Home.

Ferullo was one of the founding partners of Central Oriental when it was incorporated in 1985.

"We have had lots of growth and lots of exciting times building Central into a major source for rugs," said Ferullo. "Now it is the right time to move on."

Ferullo was a college student in 1983 when he joined Peter Burnham, who was then a sales agent. In 1985, Burnham and Ferullo began importing products from overseas and incorporated Central Oriental. For many years, Ferullo headed the company's sales efforts and Burnham was president.

Under the leadership of Burnham and Ferullo, Central Oriental became one of the first importers to bring in million-point machine made rugs from Belgium.

Central Oriental was sold to Natco in the early 1990's and became the area rug arm of Natco Home when that division was formed in the early 2000's.

Ferullo was named president of the Natco Home/Central Oriental rug division in 2001 when Burnham went into semi-retirement.  In 2002, Natco Home purchased the assets of the former Rainbow Rug manufacturing facilities in Sanford, ME. The company's first domestically-produced rugs were introduced in 2003.