As VP of New Business Development for W.S. Badcock, Kohut led the launch of the company's Home Now rent-to-own division.

Photo RTO Online

Albert Kohut at a Home Now grand opening in 2005. Kohut will join ColorTyme as vice president of operations.

Albert Kohut, who until recently was Vice President of New Business Development for retail furniture giant W.S Badcock, will join ColorTyme as vice president of operations.

ColorTyme has been searching for a new VP since September when Tim Hogan (video) was tapped to head operations at RimTyme, the company's custom wheel rent-to-own division (see story). Hogan had previously headed operations for all of ColorTyme. ColorTyme president Bob Bloom said in September, "We've grown to the point where we need a vice president for each of our business units."

As VP of New Business Development for Badcock, Kohut led the launch of the company's rent-to-own division, Home Now, in 2004 under CEO Don Marks. Marks is a former Rent-A-Center/Thorne executive. Home Now's first store opened in August, 2005 (see story).

While developing Badcock's Home Now rent-to-own concept, Kohut focused on upgrading the shopping experience and offering services that appealed to credit-starved retail consumers as well as traditional rental customers. Kohut told RTO Online in 2005, "We're probably most excited about the credit-builder program, which we feel offers our customers something they could not get from any other rent-to-own company. This program will help our customers build credit as long as they pay off a 12-month agreement and have a good payment history." Home Now provides an account at Badcock's retail stores as a reward for timely renewals.

Hogan served as ColorTyme Vice President of Operations since 2006. Prior to joining ColorTyme, Hogan was a divisional vice president for Rentway and spent nearly a decade developing the rent-to-own concept in Europe for Bright House.