3.24.08 | Steelcase president and CEO Jim Hackett is, as every great leader must be, a True Believer. And he believes that good design in the built environment can transform the world. We have know that as far back as the introduction to Pathways, the development that opened the door to interior architecture, as it is known, thereby expanding the world for the proper study and practice of interior design. Dan Chong, formerly president of Metro, has been selected to head the Design Community Collaboration effort.

3.24.08 | ASID (The American Society of Interior Designers) joins BIFMA (Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Society) in getting very high marks for their annual conferences. Both events had knowledge presentations that were worth the trip alone (and we are pretty educated to begin with). But if you really want to rock, ASID is the team to go with.

3.24.08 | What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago when the word was out that HNI (then named HON INDUSTRIES) was bidding to acquire Knoll from Westinghouse, one would have thought the world was coming to an end, or at least the sky was falling. Now, everyone in the know is breathing a huge sigh of relief that the treasured brand of HBF is going to be safely tucked neatly near the warm, financially sound hearth of HNI.

3.24.08 | Michele Caniato was named Material ConneXio's new President, taking over for company founder George M. Beylerian. Mr. Caniato has served as Executive Vice President of the company since 2005 and has been with the company since its inception in 1997. 

3.24.08 | Steelcase Inc. announced a long-term financial commitment to a U.S. wind farm, including the purchase of all the green power produced by the farm for at least the first five years of its operation. This is the first time a corporation has made an up-front commitment to purchase all of the renewable energy credits (RECs) from a U.S. wind farm in the financing stage.

3.24.08 | Thornton Tomasetti made several leadership changes this week:

• Thomas Z. Scarangello was named Chairman,
• Daniel A. Cuoco, who has been president since 2002, was named president and chief executive officer
• Robert P. DeScenza, who is executive vice president, was named chief operating officer.

3.17.08 | HNI Corporation appointed Jerry Dittmer as President, The HON Company and Executive Vice President, HNI Corporation, reporting to Stan Askren, Chairman, President and CEO, HNI Corporation. Her replaces Eric Jungbluth, who resigned to pursue a private equity opportunity.

3.17.08 | Larry Turk and Carl Milianta are taking another step to making Arenson the benchmark by which all dealerships will be compared. In continuing to expand their service offering, Arenson has created a new division that will focus on selling Demountable Walls and other Architectural Products. Architectural, demountable walls and other products. To spearhead this new division, Arenson has enlisted the help of Lauren Friedman, who has been named Principal and will be heading up this newly created Architectural Products Division.

3.17.08 | We are advised that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Through such maxims, we are led to believe that individual aesthetic tastes are random and unpredictable, subject to the winds of fashion! Design school spits us out into professional practice, and no one has told us otherwise.

3.17.08 | Haworth has partnered with Johnson Controls, a global leader in automotive experience, building efficiency and power solutions, to launch a research project called OXYGENZ - a global survey of Generation Y (18-25 year-olds) to understand their preferences for their future workplace.

3.17.08 | The all-new Milliken Contract New York showroom debuted February 27. Located on the 26^th floor at 875 Avenue of the Americas, the showroom was designed to be an example of sustainable design in the workplace. Transparent interior walls keep the space open to views of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and Times Square, allowing natural light to enhance nearly every aspect of the showroom.

3.17.08 | Knoll's Life chair has achieved a Sustainable Gold rating under the SMaRT Consensus Sustainable Product Standard (Sustainable Materials Rating Technology). SMaRT is distinguished from other certification programs as follows: It is a transparent, consensus, quantified sustainable product standard that measures environmental benefits throughout the global supply chain.

3.10.08 | Our annual Most Excellent Awards represent the selection of officeinsight of those people, organizations and products that we feel have had or will have a long-term impact on workplace design and furnishings and advance the profession of interior design.

3.10.08 | We previously announced the appointment of Jeff Fenwick as Vice President/General Manager of Kimball Office. Recently, we traveled to Jasper, IN, and, during that trip, we spent some time becoming acquainted with him.

3.10.08 |A three-some is occurring in New York City. Bill Gross & Associates, Empire Office and Frezza have been getting awful cozy lately, and an unveiling of Frezza’'s new New York City display space in the Bill Gross & Associates showroom located at 257 Park Avenue South was the perfect place for the three to show each other off to all their friends.

3.10.08 | One of the nice things about attending school in a large city is the availability of resources, especially those that relate to your field of study. Last week, we stumbled on to a display at the New York Design Center of the results of the first George Kovacs Lighting Competition, which featured the work of students from Pratt Institute of Design.

3.10.08 | The 7^th annual New York Eleven Student Exhibition titled, Interior Design: Sustaining the Future – Part II is scheduled for April 7-10 at Albany'’s Legislative Office Building, and will then be featured in New York City at the Teknion showroom at 641 Avenue of the Americas April 14-18, 2008.