Having finalized a management buyout, Jerry Thomas has reinstalled himself as ceo and chairman of the carpet maker and fiber supplier that carries his name. The 30-year-old company, Thomas Industries, features a portfolio of brands that includes Templeton Hospitality Carpet, Monticello Floors, Mattel Carpet and Rug, and Superior Yarn Technology. Thomas, who served as co-chairman prior to the buyout, says he is eager to get back at the helm of his family business.

“I look forward to growing the brands,” Thomas told NFT. “The Templeton division is a leader in the business and I look forward to improve it going forward. The management team is stronger than the team I had in place before I sold the company several years ago. We’re in a position to grow.”

Originally sold to J.D. Ford Holdings and other Denver investors nearly three years ago following a death in the family two years earlier, Thomas Industries is in the unique position of being both a manufacturer of residential and commercial carpet as well as a supplier of BCF fibers needed to make carpet, Thomas said. These fibers include solution-dyed nylon, polypropylene, PET polyester, solution-dyed polyester and other synthetic yarns as well as staple fibers and geo-textiles.

Thomas noted that, while the Dalton, Ga.-based business was profitable, the private equity firms opted to exit the business. “It wound up being something where they didn’t feel they needed to be,” Thomas acknowledged. ‘So they sold it back to me.”

Aside from plans to rejoin the company as chairman and CEO, Thomas said there will be no immediate changes to the business. “All the brands are the same brands. There are no changes to the workforce. Everything will stay in place,” he said.