It’s relatively easy these days to be glib about the concept and the reality of change. Change is a dominant force in the world of business. Change is a challenge. Change is constant. Change is disruptive. Change must be managed. Change is…so fill in the blank based on your current focus or experience or podcast or set of problems.
Our workplace industry segment has faced a degree of change in the recent past that is significant, far-reaching and ongoing in its implications. Consider just the change that has occurred in the manufacturing segment alone, specifically acquisitions and mergers. One of the leading manufacturers distinguished for its heritage and history in ground-breaking product design merged with the other leading manufacturer in that same reputational category. We now have MillerKnoll, and for a while a new occupant in the classification as the largest manufacturer by sales volume in our industry, a position previously occupied by Steelcase for nearly as long as anyone paid attention to that metric classification. The change sparked by that corporate combination created ripples, some would allege waves, that continue to impact our industry today.
Seemingly before the dust settled, the ink dried, on all the logo and signage changes, along comes HNI Corp. and purchases Steelcase. Anyone see that one coming except Jeff Lorenger? Many Grand Rapidians are still shaking their heads in disbelief. Combined with its earlier acquisition of Kimball and its large, existing portfolio of companies, HNI has now landed atop that list of the largest manufacturers in the industry. If you think the changes from that acquisition have already all played out, you might want to think again.
Just ahead of the largest gathering of industry companies and leadership and the workplace design professionals for Chicago Design Week 2026, the architect of the aforementioned corportate merger that created MillerKnoll, CEO Andi Owen, abruptly resigned. Owen had brought an outside vision and distinctive expertise to her role at the company, and the challenge of replacing her remains underway. More change on the horizon, and that’s just from a high-altitude overview of the manufacturers.
My colleague, Kevin Budelmann, recently penned an insightful piece in officeinsight magazine on the magnitude of the changes that are unfolding within the workplace dealer community. I won’t recap it here, but if you missed it, the ideas and realities he identified are creating an array of changes that continue to play out, some in industry challenging and changing ways. Read it or re-read it.
As if all of the above weren’t enough to satisfy the salivating appetite of an army of change-management consultants, Rob Kirkbride’s recent piece in this same publication relates the impact of the assortment of tariffs being threatened and implemented between the U.S. and Canada and uncovers the challenges and changes that are arising for designers, manufacturers, dealers and customers. Had enough change yet?
To even further round out the changing picture of our industry, BIFMA just announced the retirement of President and CEO Deirdre Jimenez. The BIFMA Board of Directors appropriately expressed their gratitude to Jimenez for her achievements since assuming her role in 2020, and they signaled their intent to commence the search for a new leader and perhaps have that person in place by the end of the year. It seems more industry change is on the horizon, and this last change presents a distinctive opportunity, I believe.
BIFMA has been a rock-solid contributor to excellence in our industry. The manufacturers and related companies that have supported BIFMA over the years have enabled the association to be a force for product quality, industry excellence and dependable information on the crucial issues that undergird so many aspects of the office workplace — environmental sustainability, materials and manufacturing standards, performance measures and so many more. BIFMA has over the years served so many audiences so well.
However, there is an open role that BIFMA has to date not filled that could significantly change both the association and its impact on the workplace industry. BIFMA could become the collective voice for the workplace industry, a voice that that has not been heard from in the marketplace to date, but that could be a significant asset for all of us. It surprises many people that our industry does not have a go-to voice to speak for the sizeable collection of corporations, organizations, associations and professionals who daily labor to sustain and propel it as any industry. If a major news outlet is doing a story on the office workplace, there is no distinctive voice to turn toward to speak for our industry. The news people clumsily reach out to a twice- or thrice-removed referral from a colleague who once may have done a similar story, and that source stumbles through an observation that only reflects a slice of a larger, diverse industry. Or if a legislator in Washington DC wanted an industry point of view on the tariffs Rob wrote about recently, there is no qualified voice to offer a comprehensive viewpoint that represents the array of industry impacts of tariffs on design, specification, sourcing and sales. Or if a university was considering designing and launching an academic program or credential, there is no representative voice of the industry to offer guidance or a full understanding of the opportunity. Just a smattering of examples.
The BIFMA Board of Directors, its search committee, and its executive search resource, have the distinctive opportunity to seek a leader for the association who could and would have the mandate to embrace this missing role, an industry voice. It might not be this person’s most important role and certainly would not be the only capability they would need to embody for the leadership at BIFMA. But it’s a role that would bring real and significant value to all of us in the industry and to the larger business community.
It’s yet another change, but a change we need.