Trenton Harris is leading VIA into the next generation by building on its core strengths and a fresh focus on design and aggressive product development. “Design matters," Trenton says. "With so much that is the same in our industry, only a few key elements really separate products, and design is among the foremost. VIA is on an exciting journey as we renew our commitment to compelling design.” Trenton joined VIA in 2006 and has been the President and CEO of the company since 2008. He’s brought a new attitude to the company and is on a mission to fill a growing customer need, providing customers with distinctive design, uncompromising quality, and defining comfort, all at surprisingly affordable prices. “I believe that good design touches your soul and creates a personal connection,” he says. “It invites curiosity, and, when combined with our trademark commitment to craftsmanship, comfort, quality and reliability, it makes for a powerful value statement. Others may try to talk about the marriage of design and price, but VIA can do all these things in a way others simply cannot.” Trenton is passionate about the VIA team: “We have the best people in the industry providing caring support, from sales to production to our outstanding management team. We love every customer, and our customers love doing business with us. Whether you are a customer, a dealer, a supplier, or an employee, we believe the very foundation of our relationship is as a genuine partner with you. It’s not just words. Ask around. It’s just the right way to do business.” Trenton has held a variety of senior leadership positions in different industries around the world. He holds both a bachelor’s degree in business and an MBA from Purdue University, and also studied at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. “As someone with back fusion surgery, office seating is something I’ve always connected to personally," he says. "There is something special and important, even therapeutic, about the relationship you have with your chair. Now, I have the opportunity to share my passion for seating with others.” Adds Trenton: “We want VIA to be the chair of choice when people base that decision upon which company offers the seating that most clearly improves the customer’s quality of life at work. As we like to say, 'It’s more than just a chair.' ”

As the leader of the sales force for VIA, Nora Fenlon is well-equipped to rhapsodize over the pride and passion that goes into the company’s seating products. She can wax in poetry or prose about the features and benefits built into each chair. But for all the carefully chosen words and well-grounded enthusiasm that can be brought to bear, Nora is the first to acknowledge that often her most powerful sales pitch is to fall silent after inviting a customer to place his or her posterior into a VIA seat. “It’s what we call the five seconds of magic,” she says. “Sure, I could talk a lot about comfort, but, when all is said and done, comfort is a feeling. The tush test helps you figure out fast whether you’re comfortable or not. The thing that communicates success for VIA is the sit test. It’s very simple — and it only takes five seconds to know the results.” Nora is a native of Ireland and holds a degree in business administration along with credentials as a Certified Associate Ergonomist. Nora has been selling VIA chairs since 2001, and from her first day in that role she has felt “very fortunate” to present VIA chairs to customers, believing that the products contribute to the promotion of health and wellness for people in the workplace. “It could be a trade show booth demonstration or a dealer showroom customer visit, but the first thing I do is shut up and put them in a chair,” she says. “Almost every time, by the look on their faces and an audible expression of relaxation, you can tell that what we’re doing is dead on and right.” Right from the land of Ahhh’s.

Kenny Swanson loves a challenge. Beating cancer twice will do that to you. When VIA’s customers ask for something out of the ordinary, Kenny’s eyes light up. He’s our wizard on the manufacturing floor, and, if the physics permit it, Kenny and his team will make it happen. “It’s not just the chair we are selling,” Kenny says. “We’re selling our word and our people and our craftsmanship and our culture at VIA. We don’t just talk about putting our pride and passion into every chair we make. We back it up with action, and our customers feel it when they sit in one of our chairs.” Kenny is our high-energy and hands-on Vice President of Production, and he’s perfectly suited for his role. He’s always seeking ways in which the quality of the production process can be improved, and the VIA team strengthened. “We never lose sight of the fact that we’re building each chair to make somebody happy on the other end,” Kenny says. “We’ll go however many extra miles are needed to make our customers happy. We build authentic craftsmanship into every chair. Striving for excellence is what we do every day.” Kenny joined VIA in 1992 and prepared himself for his current assignment as Vice President of Production by serving as a team leader in every department on the production floor, where he’s surrounded by many with even longer tenure than he. “VIA is such a custom operation,” he says. “I believe in cross-training for everyone on our team. It makes the team stronger, and the knowledge base deeper. It’s one of the ways we develop our people and ensure our quality.”

Dave Mettlach is the newest member of the VIA Management Team after joining in February 2011 and has instantly picked up on what makes VIA special – the culture. “The Business is professional and very customer focused,” Dave says. “Everything that is done at VIA is with a focus on the customer whether it is new product development, marketing, production, and the choice of materials that go into our products. I could go on.” Dave’s an experienced industry veteran with a strong product development and engineering background – two perfect compliments to the VIA team. “My passion is for great product design that is cost effective and functional,” Dave says. “I have known about VIA since meeting the founder in the mid nineties. The products are comfortable with great design. VIA continues to have a good reputation in the market.” Dave believes that a healthy operation must marry design and technology to develop great products that not only appeal to customers but also are environmentally friendly. “Today it is new product innovation using modern materials and sustainable designs where the product can be reused in some form after it’s usable life is up that will help separate companies from the herd.“ “Many companies are trying to improve the technology that our industry needs to build products and get them to market. At VIA, we’re already on our way to achieving it.” “We’re on track at VIA to build on our well-earned reputation for quality, comfort and durability with the addition of design and technological improvements.”

Jenni Muzzi loves working for a company that’s intimate enough to encourage her to experience a variety of responsible roles. “With VIA, I always feel like I have room for growth,” Jenni says. “We all have an opportunity to develop here. If you give voice to the fact that you might be interested in another position inside the company, they embrace that.” Since joining VIA, Jenni has taken on increasing responsibility, serving today as an administrative coordinator and support to the company’s controller and the office manager. She also helps out with fabric purchasing. “I started working at 13, and I’ve worked a lot of different places,” she says. “I like the family feeling at VIA. You don’t feel idle, or stuck in a dead-end job. This company is about growth. It gives me hope and promise.” Jenni believes the family atmosphere at VIA provides a supportive foundation for a well-run operation. “It’s understood how we are going to treat each other and how we’re going to work together,” she says. “It’s personal. If I accidentally invoice the wrong chair, it’s going to affect my friend down the line. Mistakes trickle down. We work hard to take care of each other. It’s like a second family here."

Ramona Wasson is finicky. She’s the sharp-eyed supervisor in VIA’s sewing department, and she takes extraordinary pride in the stitching that she and her team apply to the leathers and fabrics that encase the seats and backs of VIA’s family of chairs. “It’s our job to be very careful with the upholstery, and to put our care and love into the chair,” says Ramona. “We’ve done chairs for judges and lawyers and people who are expecting a chair with no problems, no mistakes. I always tell my people to put what they can into it, to make it look perfect.” Ramona, who joined VIA in 1993, acknowledges that she’s “picky” when assessing the work of her 15-person team. “We all sign our name to the work we do at VIA,” she says. “We want our names to stand for excellence — from the first stitch to the last."

Klaus Kjoge is living half a world away from his native Denmark, but he’s found a home at VIA. Klaus is the company’s longest-serving employee and works today both as the impresario of the model shop and one of the keepers of the company’s culture and history. “I like to work for a company that treats everyone with respect, whatever level or position they have,” Klaus says. “VIA is good at finding the right spot for each individual. If it’s a good fit for the person in a job, they can build on that. If you don’t like the job you’re doing, they will try to make something else work for that person. That’s how the company has handled people right from the beginning.” Klaus began with VIA in the company’s early days, building furniture for the founder when the firm was briefly located in Hawaii. After returning to Denmark to work for another furniture company, VIA lured him back for good in 1989. “I had learned all the basics on building by working with a master carpenter when I was a teenager in Denmark,” says Klaus. “But I was interested in more than carpentry. I’m also interested in design.” Klaus has held a variety of production positions at VIA over the decades, and today serves as the right-hand man to VIA’s Vice President of Engineering Jerry Long, constructing models and otherwise prototyping and inventing new ways to improve the functionality of the company‘s chairs. “I love coming up with new ideas, and making things look elegant and work beautifully,” says Klaus. For more than two decades, Klaus has put his plain-spoken imprint on VIA's products, helping us achieve the delicate balance of form and function, with a delightful Danish accent.

There may be something that Becky Troup cannot do, but we haven't discovered her limits yet. "I love to learn new things," Becky says in her understated way. "I like to be challenged." She's been with VIA for a decade now, and currently lends her talents to human resources, payroll and purchasing. "It boosts my confidence knowing that people are willing to entrust these duties to me — to learn about them and then to manage them," Becky says. "I have a very high work ethic and I guess you could say that I'm really into my job. Learning, learning, learning — and doing things right — it all makes me feel great about being here." Becky manages all of this while sharing her life with her husband Jason and their four children. "It helps that the VIA culture is very family oriented," she says. "What VIA does for employees is exceptional. Not a lot of companies do what VIA does to make people want to stay. You become very good friends with people here, which makes teamwork easier. It's a very flexible place to work, and a learning culture when you want to put your foot forward." Becky is Exhibit A.

It's all about attitude for William Rodriquez. The more positive the better. "I wake up eager to come to work," William says. "I try to be here by 5:30 or 5:40 a.m. to open up the place and have everything ready when we start at 6. I'll often make a pot of coffee for the early birds." The punctuality is a reflection of the passion that William brings to every task at VIA and every aspect of his life. "I love my job," says William, who joined VIA through a temp agency in 1998 and was hired as a member of the staff the following year. "It's been awesome -- it's just a great place to work. I take pride in my work and the company I work for." William was born in Mexico and grew up in Los Angeles, studying auto upholstery during his high school days. For the past three years, he's been the floor supervisor in the executive upholstery and assembly department for VIA, and he's also our ambassador to customers on those rare occasions when an on-site repair is required. "The quality of VIA chairs is very high, and the expectations are growing," says William. "We're sending out products that we all are proud of. We put our love into the work. It's easy to do, because what you give, you get back.

In his role as a floor supervisor in VIA's production area, Kevin Showalter seeks to lead by action more than words. But often he's inspired to work even more diligently because of the passion for perfection he sees in the members of his work team. "At VIA, we don't accept the average," Kevin says. "A supervisor has to lead and set a good example, and it's in my nature to make sure everything is done right. Others are watching me, and when they see me working there side-by-side with them rather than sitting down and barking out orders, they feed off of that." A native Californian, Kevin joined VIA in 1994, and has found a home and career among a work crew that often dazzles him with dedication. "We're a close-knit working family here," he says. "The team really wants to produce a good quality chair. There's lots of pride. Even when the bell rings at the end of the shift, a lot of times we keep on going to make sure that everything is done — and done the right way. "We know that people sit in these chairs for eight hours a day, and we know the prices for these chairs," Kevin continues. "I put myself on the customer's side. You want the customer to say, 'Wow, this is a great chair and a great value for the money.' That keeps us motivated."