Curt Pullen
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Executive VP, Herman Miller Inc.
President, Herman Miller North America
Holland
The longtime Herman Miller finance exec and former SVP of its dealer distribution network now heads the office furniture maker’s flagship North American operations.
“Going forward, signs suggest conditions will continue to improve and that we’ll likely avoid a double-dip recession, but U.S. and global growth rates will remain relatively low for some time. U.S. employment seems to have at least stabilized and perhaps started to improve, but slowly. Likewise, construction is beginning to look better, although it will remain well below the spending we were seeing during the ’07-’08 peak. Debt issues in the U.S. and eurozone and the related uncertain political environments are not contributing to business and investor confidence and are substantial contributors to the ongoing slow growth. If those issues aren’t resolved, they will continue to be a drag on the U.S. and global economies. Recent progress by the central banks is helpful, but it’s still unclear if these actions will be sufficient. We are likely to see very low rates of GDP growth, with some sectors and regions outperforming or underperforming these macro trends. Despite lingering uncertainties, we believe that our people, with our highly responsive business model and proven ability to execute our strategy, will enable us to continue to grow and prosper.”