June 18, 2018

La Tavola Fine Linen Names Carmel Drudy as Chief Executive Officer; Appoints New Lead Director

Napa, CA

La Tavola Fine Linen (“La Tavola”), the nation’s premier event linen rental company headquartered in Napa, California, has announced the promotion of Carmel Drudy to Chief Executive Officer and the addition of Kelly Crampton to its Board of Directors as Lead Director. La Tavola has 14 showrooms and sales offices located across California, Arizona, Texas, and Hawaii, and specializes in high-end linen rentals for weddings, private parties, and special/corporate events. Known for its extensive selection of quality on-trend fabrics, designs, and colors, La Tavola serves clients across the entire country – in addition to serving clients through its boutique Wildflower brand.

Ms. Drudy’s most recent role at La Tavola was Interim President in addition to serving as the company’s Chief Financial Officer since February of 2016, where she was instrumental in driving financial and operational improvements. Prior to joining La Tavola, she held several executive leadership roles at Reed Elsevier, Asahi Beverages, The Henry Wine Group, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Commenting on her new role, Drudy said, “I’m honored to be involved with such a fine organization and the outstanding La Tavola and Wildflower brands, and I look forward to leading our dedicated team of employees as we continue to expand nationally into new markets. Our focus will be on improving the customer experience through the ultimate melding of quality and style – from the continuous development of our repertoire of designs, the selection of quality fabrics, to custom creations, to on-time delivery. The special events that we help facilitate through our valued clients are so important to so many people. It is our mission to continuously improve on our product and service offerings to make every event magical.”

“Wildflower is excited to be a partner with La Tavola and we look forward to Carmel’s leadership in helping to promote our unique brand and value proposition.” said Youngsong Martin, President of Wildflower. She added, “Wildflower’s custom design capabilities and selection of high-end fabrics will benefit from La Tavola’s growth and scale, allowing us to provide more options to our valued clients.”

Kelly Crampton has also joined the Board of Directors as Lead Director. Mr. Crampton is the former Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Excelligence Learning Corporation; a leading multi-channel distributor of educational products, materials, and service solutions for child day care centers, preschools, elementary schools, teachers, and parents/consumers across the country. In addition to having broad executive experience, he also brings extensive experience working for private-equity-owned portfolio companies.

“I’m thrilled to partner with Carmel and her outstanding team at La Tavola, as well as with the Frontenac team,” Crampton stated. “Both groups personify excellence at what they do, and both are highly collaborative and open to new ideas. There are significant growth opportunities at La Tavola and I look forward to adding value in any way that I can.”

“We are proud of what Carmel has been able to achieve since joining La Tavola and look forward to our new partnership with Kelly where our mission will continue to be providing clients with the best possible selection of premium linens and service for their special events,” said Joe Rondinelli, Principal at Frontenac. “We’re thrilled to have Carmel and Kelly leading La Tavola.”

About La Tavola

Based in Napa, California, La Tavola is the nation’s premier linen rental company for weddings, private parties, and special/corporate events. With 14 showrooms and sales locations in California, Arizona, Texas, and Hawaii, the company is known for its extensive selection of quality on-trend fabrics, designs, and colors, and serves clients across the entire country – in addition to serving clients through its boutique, custom-creation Wildflower brand, based in Buena Park, California. La Tavola showrooms are currently located in Beverly Hills, Buena Park, Corona Del Mar, Costa Mesa, Dallas, Emeryville, Healdsburg, Los Gatos, Maui, Napa, Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Scottsdale..

About Frontenac

Frontenac is a leading private equity firm, based in Chicago. The firm focuses on investing in lower middle market buyout transactions in the consumer, industrial, and services industries. Frontenac works in partnership with proven operating leaders, through our executive-centric approach called CEO1ST, to identify, acquire, and build market leading companies through transformational acquisitions and operational excellence. The firm has built a leading franchise working with over 275 owners of mid-sized businesses, almost always families or founders, as they address complex transition issues of liquidity, management enhancement, and growth planning. For more information, please visit www.frontenac.com.