LEONAS KONTVAINIS

STUDENT OF THE FURNITURE INDUSTRY.

I came to USA as a 17 year old lone teenager on an athletic scholarship from an Eastern European country of Lithuania.

Thanks to hard work, dedication and some good people that helped me along the way, I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Georgia Southwestern State University in 2006 following a successful collegiate basketball career (Go Canes!) that included appearances in NCAA Gulf South Conference Tournament in Tupelo, MS as well as 2005 NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City, MO.

After becoming the youngest Sports Information Director in the NCAA D2 Peach Belt Conference, I received my MBA from GSW in 2008 and joined what was then Hickory Springs Manufacturing Company (now HSM) as an International Sales Manager Trainee to pursue what would become a career and obsession with furniture.

Upon completion of an extensive training program in North Carolina, I was tasked by the VP of International Sales with developing distribution channels in Europe and relocated back to my home country of Lithuania in 2009. We expanded into Russia, UK, Poland and across southern Europe rapidly and I was promoted to General Manager of Sales & Operations in 2012.

In 2013 I was invited to join Motion Italia as International Sales Director and helped the company expand its business to USA, where we opened a branch in High Point North Carolina.

Three years later, in 2016 I founded GFC (Global Furniture Components), UAB a supplier of components for furniture industry. GFC is continuing to enjoy strong growth and is now a leading motion furniture hardware specialist in the Baltic States. 

Over the past two decades I have worked in more than 30 countries, met hundreds of amazing people and initiated numerous projects in different sectors of the furniture industry.

I attended and exhibited at furniture trade shows in Milan (Italy), Pordenone (Italy), Cologne (Germany), Shanghai (China), Guangzhou (China), Moscow (Russia), High Point (USA), Atlanta (USA), Tupelo (USA), Las Vegas (USA), Poznan (Poland), Ostruda (Poland), Prague (Czech Republic), Belgrade (Serbia), Istanbul (Turkey), Dubai (UAE) and Vilnius (Lithuania).

I even met my wonderful wife Dainora during a visit to a furniture factory where she was working as International Sales Manager and life has blessed us with two beautiful daughters Patricija & Lukrecija. Eventually, a desire to apply my extensive knowledge of furniture and to utilize thousands of industry relationships worldwide is what drove me to start my own consulting firm MB KONTVAINIS. Today I help executives of different companies worldwide find new clients, develop new products and safely enter into unchartered international markets. It gives great personal pleasure to connect the right people, because many times “it is who you know and not what you know” that creates new opportunities

I came to USA as a 17 year old lone teenager on an athletic scholarship from an Eastern European country of Lithuania.

Thanks to hard work, dedication and some good people that helped me along the way, I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Georgia Southwestern State University in 2006 following a successful collegiate basketball career (Go Canes!) that included appearances in NCAA Gulf South Conference Tournament in Tupelo, MS as well as 2005 NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City, MO.

After becoming the youngest Sports Information Director in the NCAA D2 Peach Belt Conference, I received my MBA from GSW in 2008 and joined what was then Hickory Springs Manufacturing Company (now HSM) as an International Sales Manager Trainee to pursue what would become a career and obsession with furniture.

Upon completion of an extensive training program in North Carolina, I was tasked by the VP of International Sales with developing distribution channels in Europe and relocated back to my home country of Lithuania in 2009. We expanded into Russia, UK, Poland and across southern Europe rapidly and I was promoted to General Manager of Sales & Operations in 2012.

In 2013 I was invited to join Motion Italia as International Sales Director and helped the company expand primarily to Russia and USA, where we opened a branch in High Point North Carolina.

Three years later, in 2016 I partnered up with Raffel Systems to establish GFC (Global Furniture Components), UAB a supplier of components for furniture industry. GFC is continuing to enjoy strong growth and is now a leading motion furniture hardware specialist in the Nordics. As one of the key shareholders I continue to serve on the BOD of GFC.

In the past 14 years I have worked in over 30 countries, met hundreds of amazing people and initiated numerous projects in different sectors of the furniture industry.

I attended and exhibited at furniture trade shows in Milan (Italy), Pordenone (Italy), Cologne (Germany), Shanghai (China), Guangzhou (China), Moscow (Russia), High Point (USA), Atlanta (USA), Tupelo (USA), Las Vegas (USA), Poznan (Poland), Ostruda (Poland), Prague (Czech Republic), Belgrade (Serbia), Istanbul (Turkey), Dubai (UAE) and Vilnius (Lithuania).

I even met my wonderful wife Dainora during a visit to a furniture factory where she was working as International Sales Manager and life has blessed us with two beautiful daughters Patricija & Lukrecija. Eventually, a desire to apply my extensive knowledge of furniture and to utilize thousands of industry relationships worldwide is what drove me to start my own consulting firm MB KONTVAINIS. Today I help executives of different companies worldwide find new clients, develop new products and safely enter into unchartered international markets. It gives great personal pleasure to connect the right people, because many times “it is who you know and not what you know” that creates new opportunities.