Board of Directors

Lawrence J. Blanford is a member of the board of directors of Steelcase Inc., a position he was elected to in 2012. Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry, delivers a better work experience to its customers by providing products, services and insights into the ways people work. Its portfolio includes architecture, furniture and technology products.

Larry is president, chief executive officer and director of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR), a role he’s held since 2007. Prior to joining GMCR, from May 2005 to October 2006, Larry held the position of CEO at Royal Group Technologies Ltd., a Canadian building products and home improvements company.

From January 2004 to May 2005, Larry was founder and president of Strategic Value Consulting, LLC, a consultancy. Prior to that, he held various management positions with Royal Philips Electronics (North America), Maytag Corporation, Johns Manville Corporation, PPG Industries and The Procter & Gamble Company.

Larry has experience with leading consumer products organizations in different industries, a strategic vision for growth, a commitment to corporate social responsibility, and an ability to achieve organizational goals marshaling resources around a compelling strategic imperative for quality results.

Larry holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Xavier University in Cincinnati.

William P. Crawford is a member of the board of directors of Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry.  Steelcase delivers a better work experience to its customers by providing products, services and insights into the ways people work. Its portfolio includes architecture, furniture and technology products.

Bill retired in May 2000 with 34 years of service. Since 1991, he was president and chief executive officer of the Steelcase Design Partnership, a group of six design-oriented companies serving the contract and residential furnishings markets. Member companies include Brayton International, DesignTex, Details, JM Lynne Co., Inc., Metro, Vecta and Wigand. In his nine-year tenure, the SDP increased in sales and profitability by 300 percent, introduced 200 new products and became an important component of Steelcase Inc.'s growth strategy.

From 1986 until 1991, Bill was president of Stow Davis, a premier manufacturer of fine wood furniture. He joined Stow Davis in 1985 as vice president of operations, shortly after the company was acquired by Steelcase Inc.

Bill began his career with Steelcase in 1965 as a time study engineer. He subsequently held positions in industrial engineering and plant management before joining Stow Davis.

Bill attended Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where he studied history and psychology.

Connie K. Duckworth is a member of the board of directors of Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry. Steelcase delivers a better work experience to its customers by providing products, services and insights into the ways people work. Its portfolio includes architecture, furniture and technology products.

Connie Duckworth founded ARZU, Inc. in 2003, which supports the reconstruction of Afghanistan by empowering women, their families and their communities. She serves pro bono as its chairman and chief executive officer.

Connie is a retired partner and managing director of Goldman, Sachs & Co., where she was named the first woman sales and trading partner in the firm's history during her 20-year career. She is a trustee of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and a director of Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation and Russell Investment Group. She serves on the Board of Overseers of the Wharton School in Philadelphia, the Board of Directors of Global Heritage Fund in Palo Alto, the Board of Directors of the Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago, and the Advisory Board of the Duke Islamic Studies Center in Durham, NC.

Connie is the immediate past chairman of the Board of NorthShore University HealthSystem, in Evanston, Ill., the first woman to have held this position. She is a past chair of the Committee of 200, the organization of leading women entrepreneurs and corporate business executives in the U.S. She is also the author of The Old Girls Network: Insider Advice for Women Building Businesses in a Man's World (Basic Books 2003), a primer on how to start a business.

The recipient of numerous awards, Connie was named a 2008 Skoll Foundation honoree for Social Entrepreneurship. She holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from the University of Texas.
 

James P. Hackett is chief executive officer and director of Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry. For over 100 years, Steelcase Inc. has helped create great experiences for the world's leading organizations - wherever work happens.  Steelcase and our family of brands - including Steelcase®, Coalesse®, Designtex®, Details®, Nurture®, PolyVision®, and Turnstone® – offer a comprehensive portfolio of furnishings, products and services designed to unlock human promise and support social, economic, and environmental sustainability. We are globally accessible through a network of channels, including approximately 670 dealers. Steelcase is a global, industry-leading and publicly traded company with fiscal 2013 revenue of $2.9 billion.

Jim oversees all operations of Steelcase Inc., including domestic and international operations.

Jim was named chief executive officer of Steelcase Inc. in December 1994 and also served as president from 1994 to April 2013.

In August 1994, Jim was named executive vice president and chief operating officer of Steelcase North America.

In April 1994, Jim was named executive vice president of Steelcase Ventures. He was responsible for the design and development of products for non-contract furniture industry customers in addition to developing new company opportunities.

In August 1993, Jim was named president of Turnstone, a Steelcase company created exclusively to meet the office furnishing needs of small businesses and home offices. The Turnstone model, designed to service new ways in which people do their work, was unique in the contract furniture industry.

In 1990, Jim was named Steelcase's senior vice president of Sales and Marketing. He joined Steelcase in 1981 and held a variety of sales and marketing positions in the company, including regional manager in Houston, Texas, in 1984 and director of national accounts from 1986 to 1990. Before joining Steelcase, Jim held sales and management positions at Procter & Gamble in Detroit, Michigan, from 1977 to 1981.

Jim serves on the board of directors for Northwestern Mutual Life in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a member of the executive committee of the board of directors for the National Center for Arts and Technology, as well as the boards of advisors to the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan. Additionally, he is a past president of the Institute of Design Board of Overseers at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Jim graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in general studies.

R. David Hoover is a member of the board of directors of Steelcase Inc., a position he was elected to in 2012. Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry, delivers a better work experience to its customers by providing products, services and insights into the ways people work. Its portfolio includes architecture, furniture and technology products.

David is chairman of the board of Ball Corporation, a role he's held since 2002. He joined Ball in 1970. David served in various corporate planning and development and finance positions before being named executive vice president and elected to the company's board of directors in 1996. In 2000, David was named president and chief operating officer of Ball. He retired from the company in January 2011.

David was responsible for one of the most substantial transformations in the past decade, changing Ball from a glass container company in Indiana to a global packaging company.

Prior to his career with Ball, David was a corporate financial analyst for Eli Lilly & Co., Indianapolis.

Mr. Hoover also serves on the boards of Eli Lilly and Company and Energizer Holdings, Inc. He is a member of the board of the National Association of Manufacturers and is past chair of the board of governors of the Can Manufacturers Institute. Mr. Hoover is a member and past chair of the board of trustees of DePauw University and on the Indiana University Kelley School of Business Dean's Council. He is also a director of Boulder Community Hospital and Children's Hospital Colorado. Additionally, he is a member of the Colorado Forum.

A native of Straughn, Indiana, David received a bachelor's degree in economics from DePauw University. He was also awarded an M.B.A. in finance and real estate from Indiana University, Bloomington and completed the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard University Graduate School of Business.

James P. Keane is president and chief operating officer and director of Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry.  For over 100 years, Steelcase Inc. has helped create great experiences for the world's leading organizations - wherever work happens.  Steelcase and our family of brands - including Steelcase®, Coalesse®, Designtex®, Details®, Nurture®, PolyVision®, and Turnstone® – offer a comprehensive portfolio of furnishings, products and services designed to unlock human promise and support social, economic, and environmental sustainability.  We are globally accessible through a network of channels, including approximately 670 dealers. Steelcase is a global, industry-leading, and publicly traded company with fiscal 2013 revenue of $2.9 billion.

Appointed to this role in April 2013, Jim is responsible for the design, engineering and development, manufacturing, sales and distribution of all of our brands in the countries where we do business.

Previously Jim was chief operating officer for Steelcase, a role he was appointed to in November 2012.  He also retained the leadership duties of his previous role as president of Steelcase Group (2006-2012), in which he had responsibility for the sales, marketing and product development activities of the Steelcase, Turnstone, PolyVision, Nurture and Details brands in the Americas (the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Latin America) and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa).

Jim was senior vice president and chief financial officer of Steelcase Inc. from 2001 through 2006.  Previously, Jim has also led corporate strategy, IT, Steelcase Design Partnership, and research and development since joining the company in 1997.

He serves on the boards of Rockwell Automation, IDEO, Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer's Association (BIFMA),  the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Foundation, the board of trustees of Grand Valley University Foundation, and the executive board of Design Futures Council.

Jim earned a bachelor of science degree in accountancy from the University of Illinois, and a master's in management degree from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Robert C. Pew III is a member of the board of directors of Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry. Steelcase delivers a better work experience to its customers by providing products, services and insights into the ways people work. Its portfolio includes architecture, furniture and technology products.

Now a private investor, Rob served as president of Steelcase North America from May 1990 to March 1994. In that capacity, he was responsible for all sales, marketing and manufacturing operations involving Steelcase-brand products.

Rob originally joined Steelcase in Grand Rapids in 1974 as a product standards engineer in the Chair Plant. In 1975, he was named a wage and salary administrator in the Human Resources department. In 1976, Rob became an employee relations manager, responsible for the Desk Plant and, later, the File Plant. In 1977, he was promoted to superintendent of the File Plant.

Rob was named plant manager of the Steelcase facility in Fletcher, North Carolina, in 1979. He held that post until 1984, when he left the company to become one of its independent dealers, eventually owning and operating Steelcase dealerships in Asheville and Charlotte, North Carolina, and in Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1988, Rob returned to Steelcase in Grand Rapids as vice president and assistant to the president. He was named executive vice president, Steelcase operations, in 1989.

Rob's activities in the not-for-profit world have included a term as president of Junior Achievement of Western North Carolina and various roles within United Way, including chair of the Community Planning and Allocation Process of the Buncombe County United Way and overall campaign chair of United Way of Western Michigan. Rob has also served as chair of the Asheville Downtown Commission and campaign chair for the Pack Place Arts and Science Center. Rob is a former trustee of Grand Valley State University and is currently board chair of the Institute of Design in Chicago.

Rob earned a bachelor of science degree in social studies from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan.

Cathy D. Ross is a member of the board of directors of Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry. Steelcase delivers a better work experience to its customers by providing products, services and insights into the ways people work. Its portfolio includes architecture, furniture and technology products.

Cathy is executive vice president and chief financial officer for FedEx Express, the largest FedEx operating company and the world's largest express transportation company. Her responsibilities include all aspects of the company's worldwide financial affairs, including financial planning, reporting and analysis, revenue and disbursement accounting and control functions, as well as long-range strategic planning. Cathy also oversees the FedEx Express business system and sourcing functions. She manages almost 3,000 professionals throughout the U.S., Asia, Europe, Canada and Latin America.

Cathy joined FedEx in 1984 as a senior financial analyst. She is a five-time recipient of the FedEx Express Five Star Award, the company's top employee honor. In 2005, 2007 and 2009 she also received the FedEx Express CEO Five Star Award in further recognition of her numerous outstanding contributions to the business..

Prior to joining FedEx, Cathy worked for Kimberly-Clark Corporation as a cost analyst and cost analysis supervisor (1982-1984) and for Buckeye Cellulose Corporation (a subsidiary of Proctor & Gamble) as an accounting supervisor and staff accountant (1978-1982).

Cathy serves on the board of directors of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis; the University of Memphis National Alumni Association executive board of directors; the University of Memphis Research Foundation Team; and the University of Memphis Tiger Athletics Advisory Board. In 2007, she joined other notable women of achievement as a member of the Tennessee Women's Forum, and she is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Delta Sigma Pi Professional Fraternity and Links, Inc., an organization of African-American women devoted to community service.

A native of Henderson, Tennessee, Cathy holds an accounting degree from Christian Brothers University and an M.B.A. from the University of Memphis. She was honored with the Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of Memphis and the Women of Excellence Award from the Memphis Tri-State Defender. In addition, she was named among the "25 Rising Women of Finance" by JPMorgan Chase/Treasury & Risk Management, the "50 Most Powerful Black Women in Business" by Black Enterprise, and "CFO Thought Leader" by Booz Allen.

P. Craig Welch, Jr. is a member of the board of directors of Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry.  Steelcase delivers a better work experience to its customers by providing products, services and insights into the ways people work. Its portfolio includes architecture, furniture and technology products.

Craig is currently member manager of Honzo Fund, LLC and president of JCT Foundation.

Craig began his career with Steelcase in 1967 in the production control department. In 1968, he was appointed an industrial engineer at the company's manufacturing facility in La Mirada, California. In 1969, he joined the sales administration department at the California division and was named manager, district sales, in 1970.

In 1970 Craig returned to Grand Rapids, assigned to special projects of the production control department. In 1972, he was named manager of manufacturing systems data processing, and director of production inventory control (PIC) in 1975.

Craig was named director of information services in 1985, responsible for all Steelcase data processing activities. In 1987, he left Steelcase to concentrate his business activities in real estate and venture capital.

He attended Colorado College and Michigan State University, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in sociology.