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March 16, 2009 - The
Sustainable Furnishings Council
(SFC) announced this week the
promotion of Jeff Hiller as the
new President of the leading
green organization in home
furnishings. (The Specialty
Sleep Association recently
joined the SFC.)
The SFC was founded by Gerry
Cooklin in October 2006 as a
non-profit coalition of
suppliers, manufacturers,
retailers and designers. It was
the first of its kind in the
industry, and gained the early
support of prominent board
members including one of the two
co-founders of the U.S. Green
Building Council, ranking staff
of the World Wildlife Fund and
Rainforest Alliance, and
prominent organizations from all
points in the supply chain
including Four Hands, Room &
Board, and World Market Center.
The SFC has since grown to
become the #1 organization in
green home furnishings.
Going forward, the SFC has very
aggressive plans for growth,
member benefits, industry
partnerships, and educational
platforms, and has called on
Jeff Hiller to lead the charge
as the new President based on
his extensive background in the
industry, his marketing
expertise and his past
contributions in growing the
organization, where he was one
of the founding Board members
and for the past two years has
served as Chair of the Marketing
& Education committee.
Hiller began his career at Leo
Burnett in Chicago, one of the
largest individual advertising
agencies in the U.S. where he
became the youngest VP/Account
Director in the company’s
history. He left to become
owner/operator of The
Arrangement, a furniture
retailer that he grew into a
thriving chain before selling to
take on a “dream job” stint as
Marketing/Creative Director for
the NBA’s Houston Rockets
franchise. He returned to the
industry as VP/Marketing &
Retail for Four Hands, a noted
home furnishings importer and
3-time Inc 500 Fastest Growing
Company. He now runs his
PROaction Marketing Group in
Austin, TX doing planning,
buying, marketing and sales
training for a variety of
businesses, including many
furniture wholesalers and
retailers, a business he will
continue in addition to his new
responsibilities with the SFC.
“The prospects of the SFC are
virtually limitless,” says
Hiller. “I am assured by Mike
Italiano, one of the USGBC
co-founders, that we are miles
ahead of where they were as an
organization at a comparable
point, and that is fast company
to keep. Even so, there remain
tens of thousands of
manufacturers, retailers, and
designers that we have an
opportunity to impact, and it
essential that we reach as many
as possible.”
Hiller’s goals are to at least
double membership over each of
the next two years. At the same
time, he wants to continue to
develop programs that provide
immediate benefit to members in
improving the sustainability of
their operations while helping
them make sales now such as the
variety of staff training
programs and customer invitation
events the SFC has been rolling
out in recent months. A critical
component will be developing
closer partnerships with major
companies and organizations
throughout the home furnishings
business that mutually further
their own aims and those of the
SFC.
By 2011, sustainability will
become the dominant topic of the
day, as the worldwide economy
settles down.
“The time is now,” Hiller adds.
“By 2011, sustainability will
become the dominant topic of the
day, as the worldwide economy
settles down, the US
administration focuses its
efforts, and the next UN report
on climate change is released.
Companies will be scrambling all
over themselves to get under the
green umbrella then, and those
that are doing the work now will
be best able to capitalize on
the shift. This is not only a
moral imperative, but a business
imperative as well.”
Next up on the SFC’s busy agenda
is High Point Market, where they
again will be presenting a
variety of training and
educational programs, including
the new “GREENleaders” 6-hour
certification course for
manufacturers, retailers, reps
and designers who want to gain
more meaningful differentiation
as expert in the area of green
home furnishings.
www.sustainablefurnishings.org
PO Box 205 Chapel Hill, NC
27514 USA |
