About the Team: Michael Shapiro
To help you get to know us here at Jay Edward Group, we want to take the time to introduce ourselves – starting with President, Michael Shapiro.
As you know, Jay Edward Group manufactures fine case goods and upholstered seating for the global hospitality market. We focus on what matters most to our clients: quality, value and execution by working with select owners, developers, contractors, designers and purchasing agents to enable them to produce the world’s best products direct from the factories that build them. Jay Edward Group is one of a very small handful of companies in this industry that actually own a factory overseas. As a full-service solution for hospitality furnishings, JEG is passionate about achieving enduring results for their clients – results that go beyond financial and are uniquely tailored to maximize each project and opportunity.
Throughout Michael’s career, something had always been drawing him to focus on the main point of sourcing: quality control. After nearly a decade as Senior Director of Sourcing and Design Development at Starwood Hotels, Michael Shapiro founded Center Point Global (CPG) to address the single largest problem he faced when sourcing furniture, fixture and equipment needs from overseas: inadequate quality control. Managing the sourcing and design development of Starwood’s Sheraton, Westin, W, St. Regis, Four Points and Le Meridien brands and launching the Aloft and Element brands, Michael saw an opportunity to perfect the process of product procurement in the quality control realm.
Michael brought this experience and unique insight to lead Center Point Global to address these issues and ensure the success of its client’s overseas manufacturing operations. Following this, Michael was VP of Sourcing and Procurement for J Christopher Capital, where he was brought on to build the sourcing and procurement team in both Shanghai and New York City.
Today, Michael Shapiro is extremely proud of the company he has built – with amazing clients, a team focused on providing the upmost quality and results, with an emphasis on transparency – you’ll never have questions about your project while it’s in Jay Edwards hands.
In his free time, Michael loves to hang out at his family farm in Julian, CA, where they care for a variety of animals including chickens, goats, sheep, cows, miniature donkeys and dogs. Michael currently has six dogs that rotate between the Julian farm and his home in San Diego, taking two dogs at a time back to the city. He starts every day at dawn with long brisk walk that can often go eight to ten miles before heading into the office. The length of the walk is dependent on which dogs he has with him. The basset hounds legs are little too short for long walks, but Belgium Shepherds can go forever.
Michael also travels a great deal for work. Almost 2 weeks out of every month. Jay Edward Group has offices and showroom in Manila, Philippines, a factory in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and a partner in Shanghai China. This three-country circuit keeps keep’s Michael on the go. It is not uncommon for him to wake up and take a moment to consider which country he is in that day.
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