People of Sleep Number - Meet Hitesh

“I represent four out of the seven continents between where I’ve lived and travelled. I was born in Uganda (Africa) where my grandfather ran general stores and coffee plantations. My father was born there and married my mother who is Indian (Asia). The leader in Uganda forced us to leave overnight – with one suitcase and 50 pounds of cash. We were fortunate enough to be flown out by the UK government to the UK (Europe) because Uganda was a colony. In 2007, I came to the United States (North America) with Best Buy. It is my ambition to tackle South America and Australia as I love to travel.

I’m married to the same person twice – we had a wedding in India for her family, and one in the UK with my friends and family – and we have a son and daughter. We’re passionate about philanthropy, having created a foundation in honor of my niece to raise awareness of distracted and drunk driving. We present at many colleges and schools during homecoming or prom events to spread the word about the dangers. More recently, we’ve helped many Ukrainian families settling in the area with hunger by working with local nonprofits and churches to provide food.

I love landscaping and holiday decorations! From Diwali through the New Year and Easter, you’ll see it bigger and brighter each year. I use lights and music, and one year got a trophy for my display from a secret admirer.

My leadership philosophy is centered on teamwork and passion – helping to unlock true potential. Often, it’s understanding that you can’t do anything by yourself, and that teamwork means sharing information. When we work together, marrying business priorities with technology, we create efficiencies and provide great customer experiences.

It's important to have fun at work since we spend so much of our daily lives here – getting to know people as individuals. The human-to-human connection is important.

It’s amazing how well-known the Sleep Number brand is. Getting into the connected health space and combining that with retail means we are unique and I’m excited to be part of the journey to take Sleep Number to the next level.

My Sleep Number setting is a 35, and my bed is arriving this month! At Sleep Number, I’m the SVP, Chief Information Officer.”