Apogee Enterprises has sold CAS, its framed-print and mirror company, to the current CAS Vice President Lisa Choate and Mark Miller, formerly of Ericsson, Inc.

The sale, which took place over the past seven months, was first announced to suppliers, staff and its sales force earlier this year. The deal was announced publicly last month.

The new parent company, Visual Frameworks, will maintain a production facility in Orlando, Fla., and a sales office in Springfield, Mo. It will also continue to support and show in the following market centers: Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, High Point and Las Vegas.

The company will retain CAS as its brand name and retire all previous brands. Currently, CAS has about 3,000 SKUs and is nominated for a 2008 ARTS award in the wall decor category. The company just updated its Web site and published its first master catalog in the past year.

Choate has spent 22 years in the industry since starting her career with Charles T. Kennedy in Dallas as a field sales associate. Her new position will focus on sales management and product development. "I feel so fortunate to have landed in the home accessory/ gift world that provides the platform of an ever-evolving market place, demands constant integration of new ideas and ways to market, filled with fierce competition and giant opportunity ... and yet never leaves its core values dependent on quality relationships and good design," she said. "It's been a great fit for me — it's hard to imagine what life would look like from any other vantage point."

Miller came to the home accessory industry after more than 20 years in the international telecom arena. In his new role, Miller will lead the organization's finance and operational teams. "I'm excited about partnering with our customers and believe we can exceed their expectations through the increased flexibility and responsiveness of an owner-operated business," Miller said.

Choate and Miller have been friends since first meeting in the eighth grade, subsequently sharing the high school "after school" job at the local grocery in-house deli and bakery. "Mark would clean the meat slicers and I would agree to clean the chicken rotisserie — the grease trap is an ugly thing," Choate said. "We figured if we could work out an equitable situation then and could survive 30 years-plus of friendship across three continents — we could probably be complementary partners in our manufacturing and sales business as well."