For over three decades, Chris Rice has quietly shaped the hospitality manufacturing world with precision, heart, and an unwavering commitment to mentorship. His impact stretches from factory floors to design studios to classrooms across the country. Rice founded Kellex Corporation in 1994 with one mission—to raise the standard of hospitality furniture manufacturing in America. What started as a focused operation grew into a nationally respected brand, known for its quality craftsmanship, contract expertise, and long-term industry partnerships. Rice built Kellex around principles of community, service, and innovation. He saw the hospitality sector not only as a market but as a movement—one where investing in people would drive long-term success. Rice’s commitment to design innovation has been constant…

Celebrating others and making everyone feel treasured, confident and supported has been the focus of Diana Dobin’s 30 year Hospitality career. Co-CEO of Valley Forge Fabrics, she is a maker at heart and a hospitalitarian in her soul. Pioneering the importance of sustainability long before it was part of our industry conversation, Diana is a passionate leader that has tirelessly encouraged and educated the industry to recognize both the opportunity and responsibility to impact the health, well-being and happiness …

Lee Blair is a beloved industry veteran known for his ability to form long-lasting personal relationships and for the passion he has for mentoring others. His accomplished hospitality career spans almost four decades and is filled with clients, mentees and peers who have positively impacted his professional life while also transforming his personal life along the way. Lee began his career in 1983 working in one of Milliken’s manufacturing plants where he gained invaluable experience in the production of textile fabrics. In 1985…

Lisa Villarreal is the founder & owner of Lily Jack, a third-generation fine furniture manufacturing company, specializing in custom seating, metal & casegoods suited for the luxury high-end hospitality industry. With owned manufacturing facilities in the US & Mexico, as well as factory partners and offices in Vietnam & China, Lily Jack is a global supplier to many of the leading hotel brands in the world. Lisa fell in love with furniture after spending time in her grandfather’s importing business, learning how he designed and developed product for his…

Lawrence (aka Larry) Chalfin was on a path to a musical career. At a young age his beautiful singing voice led him to classical studies with distinguished vocalists and then on to The Juilliard School of Music to pursue vocal arts. All the while, another calling persisted, one that would change his life and that of Samuelson Furniture, then known as Invincible Parlor Frame. Throughout his growing years from childhood on, Larry spent Saturdays and school vacations at the Invincible furniture factory with his visionary father, Samuel. As a highly regarded…

From humble beginnings on a farm in Nebraska, Sandy Banks has catapulted herself into a wildly successful career in hospitality. Raised with a DIY spirit and strong work ethic, she learned to sew and make her own clothes at the age of six, embarking on a lifelong love affair with fabric and its transformative power. Unable to find clothes she liked in stores, Sandy designed and made her own wardrobe, strongly influenced by favorite designers Pucci, Paco Rabanne, Mary Quant and Rudi Gernreich. She discovered an early outlet for her passion…

Curtis Breedlove grew up in rural Minnesota with a freedom to roam that inspired him to seek out travel and adventure as a young man, including a European motorcycle odyssey and art school in Holbæk, Denmark. It was a spin of the globe by a Danish friend that led him, entirely by land, to Afghanistan, a journey on which he would meet his future wife and make his first textile purchase in Mashhad, Iran. Curtis displayed a budding entrepreneurial talent by financing subsequent trips through North Africa and South America by trading and selling…

I kind of, sort of, started an art business in 1976. And why that and then? My earlier career was a primary school teacher for the Toronto Board of education. I chose that vocation because the pay was fabulous ($3000.00] for my first year. And I loved children. Then I married, had 3 adorable boys and decided that I didn’t…

Janice Feldman, Chief Executive Officer of JANUS et Cie, has been a leader in the design industry since the company’s founding more than 35 years ago. A trained artist and interior designer schooled in graphics arts and industrial design, Feldman is renowned as a business maverick, a champion of great design, and a visionary in the field of material innovation. Feldman and her exceptional team have transformed JANUS et Cie…

Jane Skeeter is CEO and Founder of UltraGlas, Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of all facets of designed architectural and high performance glass and glass tile. The company offers a full complement of glass fabrication techniques and innovative processes. Its projects can be large in scale, 125,000 square feet, 5,000 panels of permanently colored, molded, tempered, heat-soak tested, translucent, back-lighted UltraGlas for the exterior façade of an iconic hospital in Kuwait City. A 250’ long by 5’ high molded…

After graduation from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Deborah entered the industry in 1982, and following in her father’s footsteps, became the National Sales Manager for Bedspreads of California. Fifteen years later, she launched Fabric Innovations. A strong advocate for women in business and women owned businesses; Deborah was awarded the 2006 South Florida Business Woman of the Year and the 2006 NEWH Award of Excellence. It is testament to her strong work ethic…

Bob Thomas has been in the hospitality industry for 45 years. His proudest accomplishment is founding Signature Hospitality Carpets along with his two partners, Brenda Smith and Bryan Ownbey. As Signature approaches their sixteenth year, Bob is pleased that they have become a major resource domestically and internationally with major hotel chains and design firms. With over 50 sales representatives worldwide, Signature Hospitality Carpets is prepared to meet and exceed the expectations…

Ray C. Anderson July 28, 1934 – August 8, 2011 The story is now legend: the “spear in the chest” epiphany Ray Anderson experienced when he first read Paul Hawken’s The Ecology of Commerce, seeking inspiration for a speech to an Interface task force on the company’s environmental vision. Seventeen years and a sea change later, Ray estimated that Interface is more than half-way towards the vision of “Mission Zero,” the journey no one would have imagined for the …

Herbert V. Kohler, Jr. is Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Kohler Co., headquartered in Kohler, Wisconsin. The company focuses on living environments with a mission “to improve the level of gracious living for all persons touched by its products and services” and it has become a world leader in the manufacture of kitchen and bath products, premier furniture under the brand names of Baker and McGuire, and host to international host to award-winning …

Harvey Nudelman serves as president of Fabricut Inc. and oversees the daily operations and sales for its hospitality divisions Fabricut Contract and S. Harris Contract – premier textile distributors for the hospitality industry. Harvey has been an influential leader in the textile and hospitality industries for 50 years.

Judy Dobin is Founder, Principal and Executive Vice President of Valley Forge Fabrics, Inc. Valley Forge Fabrics is the largest decorative fabric supplier to the Hospitality industry worldwide and boasts fully staffed offices in the USA, China, Hong Kong, South Africa, Italy and Dubai. A family-owned and operated company; Valley Forge is headquartered in South Florida and prides itself on its agility, speed and adaptability.

Jerry J. Holy remains one of the most respected and admired professionals in the lighting industry even after his passing on December 5, 2008, in Prague at the age of 84. Known as “a man of his word”, he believed and lived his favorite quote daily. “Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it”.

Mr. Milliken has been a true leader in his dedication to quality, excellence and integrity. His passion for environmental stewardship has been inspirational. And, his support of our industry through scholarship and education has been unwavering. NEWH has long counted on Milliken as our partner in the pursuit of our mission and we are truly honored to welcome Roger Milliken as our fourth recipient of the Icon of the Industry Award.

Manfred Steinfeld was born on April 29, 1924 in Josbach, Germany. In July 1938, he was sent to live with an aunt in Chicago where he attended Hyde Park High School. He graduated in 1942 and enrolled in the University of Illinois. He completed only one semester before joining the U.S. Army that same year.

When Maya Romanoff lived the ultimate student experience at the University of California in Berkeley in the sixties, he probably never imagined that his studies in anthropology, archeology and art would lead him to where he is today: artist, inventor, and director of the Maya Romanoff Corporation; the leading manufacturer of innovative wall covering and surfacing materials impacting the world of design.

Thomas R. Durkan, the founder of Durkan Patterned Carpets who was credited with creating a lucrative niche market for upscale printed carpet in the commercial carpet industry, died at his Dalton, GA home on November 25, 2003. He was 78 and suffering from leukemia, a family spokesperson said. A self-made millionaire who entered the carpet business as a trainee for Mohawk Carpet Mills in 1951, Durkan retire in 1996 after selling his $100 million company – ironically to his alma mater, now known as Mohawk Industries, Inc., a publicly traded $4 billion industry giant.