An Interview with Herman Miller CEO Brian Walker

by Robert Beck | July 30th, 2018

Earlier this year Herman Miller CEO, Brian Walker announced his intention to retire at the end of August this year, contingent on the Board of Directors having settled on his replacement. I immediately requested an interview and we settled on NeoCon as a convenient time and place. Mr. Walker has been the President and CEO since July 2004 when he took the reins from his predecessor as CEO and the current Chairman of the Board, Michael Volkema. Much has changed since 2004 – both in the industry and at Herman Miller. Who would have guessed that 14 years later the “systems business” as we called it then, would have shrunk to a mere fraction of its 2003 size. Our industry hadn’t seen as major a product typology shift since the entry of systems furniture on the scene in the late 1960’s. And along with the other companies that enjoyed a …