NEWH - Fall 2013 - (Page 28)

Honor Icon of Industry Ray of Light Interface’s Ray Anderson proved green is good business NEWH, Inc.— The Hospitality Industry Network has posthumously named Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of Interface, Inc., the 2013 Icon of Industry, the non-profit organization’s most prestigious honor. Says NEWH, Inc. president Julia Marks: “Our candidates are truly inspirational, successful, and generous leaders who make a difference in our industry and in our world. It is a great pleasure to recognize Ray as the 2013 Icon of Industry.” Adds Dina Belon, NEWH Sustainable Hospitality vice president, “So many people were inspired by Ray, and so many people inspired him. Ray was truly a leader and a minister of the environmental movement in the business world. He, and in his absence, his company, continue to act as a shining light that holds the triple bottom line: people, planet, and prosperity as a core value and success meter.” Anderson’s crusade began after he had a “spear in the chest” epiphany reading 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 later, Ray estimated that Interface is more than halfway towards the vision of “Mission Zero”—the company’s promise to eliminate any negative impact it may have on the environment by the year 2020, through the redesign of processes and products, the pioneering of new technologies, and efforts to reduce or eliminate waste and harmful emissions while increasing the use of renewable materials and sources of energy. Ray chronicled that journey in two books, Mid-Course Correction (1998) and Confessions of a Radical Industrialist (2009). Says Charley Knight, vice president, Interface Hospitality: “When Ray had his epiphany in 1994 with regards to the environment, he started a journey that inspired legions of fans from around the globe. When he committed to following a different path, the journey up ‘Mount Sustainability,’ he knew it would be difficult—but incredibly worthwhile. It was his steadfast belief that our children and our children’s children deserve the same opportunity with the same, if not replenished, resources to make a go of it on this earth. That idea resonates with a wide and diverse audience. When Ray spoke, his southern charm was undeniable, but he was also steadfast, resolute, courageous, and, perhaps most importantly, so right.” 28 www.newh.org An honors graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s (Georgia Tech) school of industrial and systems engineering in 1956, Ray learned the carpet trade through 14-plus years at various positions at Deering-Milliken and Callaway Mills, and in 1973, set about founding a company to produce the first free-lay carpet tiles in the U.S. Today, Interface is the world’s largest producer of modular commercial floorcoverings. The once captain of industry eschewed a luxury car for a Prius and built an off-the-grid home and became an unlikely screen hero in the 2004 Canadian documentary, The Corporation, in the 2007 film by Leonardo DiCaprio, The 11th Hour, and in Tom Shadyac’s 2011 documentary, I AM. The Interface story is also the focus of the documentary film So Right, So Smart. Of his many accolades and honors, Anderson was named one of TIME Magazine’s Heroes of the Environment in 2007, with a similar honor from Elle Magazine that year. He was a sought after speaker and advisor on all ecoissues, including a stint as co-chair of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development during President Clinton’s administration, which led to him co-chairing the Presidential Climate Action Plan in 2008, a team that presented the Obama Administration with a 100 day action plan on climate. He passed away on August 8, 2011, at the age of 77. Remembers Knight: “There are many people who would espouse provocative ideas, but Ray put his money where his mouth was and led by example. Interface was and continues to be a shining example of a successful, sustainability focused business model. It was his business case for sustainability that recognized that ‘profitable business’ is really the only entity in the world that can drive the changes needed. For our business, the world of design and industry in general, Ray offered awareness, then hope with a well-defined path. I think that is what inspired so many people—that his ideas weren’t so abstract, but a call to action that was audacious, with a clear place to start and a nod to the power of the individual to make a difference.” Anderson will be honored at the Gold Key Awards celebration on November 10th in New York, held in conjunction with the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show (IHMRS) and BDNY. ❙❘❚ http://www.newh.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NEWH - Fall 2013

NEWH - Fall 2013
Table of Contents
News
Who’s Who
Sustainability
Conference Roundup
Q&A: Julia Marks
Q&A: Scott Pope
Icon of Industry
Have You Seen?
Product Know How
On the Scene
Cover Story
Project: A Bar
Project: Trademark
Save the Date
New Members
Partner Profiles
Ad Index

NEWH - Fall 2013