WONZ North America Manager Connelly Retiring

Marble Hill, GA, Feb. 24, 2009--Wes Connelly, North America area manager for Wools of New Zealand, is retiring after 39 years in the floorcovering/textile industry.

Connelly’s career began at Woodside, a division of Dan River Mills, which specialized in apparel fabrics. Following, he spent 11 years at Monsanto before tapped by the Wool Bureau, where he remained through the evolution of Wools of New Zealand.

Elise Demboski, who previously worked for Wools of New Zealand and has been an industry marketing consultant for the past 12 years, will assume responsibilities for managing the North American initiatives for Wools of New Zealand.

Demboski will work in concert with Connelly to rejuvenate the New Zealand strong wool industry. As a subsidiary of Wool Partners International—a newly established integrated strong wool procurement and marketing company—Wools of New Zealand is now part of a fully integrated supply chain that takes wool from farm to floor.