Andy Thornton is Founder and Flunkey at LaDiff in Richmond, VA, a store that has been recognized year after year as the city’s favorite. His peripatetic upbringing and youth included schooling in 4 countries, and travel throughout dozens. He founded LaDiff on the heels of a business he based in Haiti to work with artisans there. His charitable work includes efforts in housing, historic preservation, and economic development.
Libby Langdon is an interior designer, author, product designer and makeover television personality, as well as the creative force behind New York City–based design firm Libby Interiors, Inc.
Samantha leads the global forestry supply chain and advisory work for Rainforest Alliance’s Markets Transformation team. In this role, she engages with companies to develop and implement sustainable sourcing practices and commitments across commodities and sectors linked to deforestation to reduce risk, drive impact in the field, improve livelihoods and protect the environment. Before taking on this role Samantha spent over 6 years auditing and gaining valuable field experience in chain of custody at every l
Matt Huber, Executive Vice President, Belfort Furniture oversees day-to-day operations. Matt is responsible for moving Belfort Furniture forward with technological advances such as implementing e-commerce into the company’s revenue stream and online design help services. He has a keen eye for new trends in merchandising to draw a younger consumer to the showroom.
Rene de Kok is the Commercial Director of Scancom International AS, a Danish manufacturer of Garden furniture with manufacturing plants in Vietnam, Indonesia and Brazil. Rene is based in Vietnam where Scancom has its biggest production presence and major showrooms.
Erika Heet is the Editor-in-Chief of Interiors magazine. She is the former Los Angeles Editor of Dwell and the former Editorial Director of Dwell on Design and spent eight years as a senior editor at Architectural Digest. Her work has appeared in 1stdibs.com’s Retrospective magazine, the Berkeley Fiction Review and Sierra Magazine.
Kathryn has been the VP of Sales for Libeco Inc. since early 2007 and has a passion for natural fibers and empowering employees to reach their greatest potential. She has held management positions in the retail and wholesale textiles industry with companies such as F. Schumacher, Williams-Sonoma Inc., and Revman International. She is an active member of WithIt and a current Board Member of ITA, the non-profit organization sponsoring Showtime, the largest wholesale textiles show in North America.
Blake Millinor, Valdese Weavers and Inside Out Performance Fabrics
Gat Caperton is the president and CEO of Caperton Furnitureworks, a West Virginia manufacturer of hand-made, solid-wood home furniture that he acquired from its founder in 1996. Caperton Furnitureworks, originally named Tom Seely Furniture, the 40+year-old business now employs over 100 skilled people in Berkeley Springs and sells its furniture throughout the U.S. In 1990, Caperton received a B.A.
Jeronimo Cooklin founded the Sustainable Furnishings Council to transform the home furnishings Industry and to help preserve the world’s forests. Involved in the furniture Industry since 1986 and in Sustainable Development since 1998, he put these two together to form SFC in late 2006. Founder of PaTS, a Peruvian nonprofit org in the Peruvian Amazon working since 2000 with Yanesha indigenous community members to become artisans and business people to create a sustainable living for their families while preserving their forests. Founded MaderArt & Tecnologia SAC,
