Erald is a master of overcoming obstacles and using difficult situations to grow. As the youngest CIO in company history, he has done more than his fair share of hard work. Erald was born and raised in Albania, moving to South Dakota as a high school exchange student when he was 17 years old. The combination of not knowing English and the culture shock of moving to a new country proved to be quite stressful. Erald tackled this learning experience head-on, graduated from high school, and went on to obtain a Computer Science degree from Augustana University.

Right after college, Erald became a software engineer for Omnitech, working end-to-end on projects with them for over seven years. The same week he switched jobs and began working at Furniture Mart USA was the same week that his first child was born – you can imagine how stressful that was. Again, Erald played the role of working dad like a champ. At work, he oversaw software infrastructure, testing, production, and more. His experience, hard work, and determination led him to his current position as CIO of Furniture Mart USA. Even as a leader, Erald sees himself as a ‘continuous student,’ always wanting to learn more and help grow the company as a tech-leader in the furniture industry.

Favorite piece of furniture: His dining room table, it’s a great place for his family to eat together and connect after a long day