ECO-nomics: a business case for circular furniture programs

NeoCon Presentation Description: and ECO-nomic sense! There is a growing community of facility managers working together to drive sustainable change in the commercial furniture industry. In this value-driven session, we will share insights and best practices from kimiko green's roundtable discussions that include many fortune 500 global organizations. Founding members Dianne Murata and Jenny McMath will share financial scenarios including a case study from 8 million sq ft facility Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) that support sustainable furniture practices and make a case for circular furniture programs. Over the last three years LANL has purchased millions of $ in new interior products with a focus on sustainable and high-quality interior furnishings. However, it is only the beginning of their goal to maximize it's useable life and landfill diversion. Sustainable commercial furniture, if well maintained and warrantied, can last well beyond the accounting depreciation of the asset, ultimately saving taxpayer and/or organizational dollars. Waste reduction and keeping commercial furniture out of landfills has multiple environmental benefits, but implementing circular practices also makes great financial sense--whether planning and managing 8 million square feet or 8,000 square feet.


Dianne Murata

Founding Principal

kimiko designs

Dianne Murata is the founding principal of kimiko designs, a team of furniture planning, specification and technology experts specializing in commercial furniture projects. A graduate of the University of Manitoba, Dianne has led kimiko as an industry innovator and visionary builder of exceptional teams since 1999. Her passions are keeping used office furniture out of the landfill and rescuing pups from the puppy-mill.

Joanna Friesen Toler, PMP

VP, Construction and Design Manager - Corporate Real Estate & Facilities

Amegy Bank

Joanna Friesen Toler is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and is the Space, Design & Construction Manager for Amegy Bank, overseeing 1.2 million square feet of office space in Texas and Utah. Her responsibilities include space and utilization studies supporting the bank’s real estate strategies and overseeing office and retail projects.

After graduating from Texas A&M in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Distribution, Joanna began her career in sales before finding her way to a Houston-based interior architecture firm. While there, she consulted on several large campus projects for domestic and international clients in various industries. Joanna is an advocate for sustainable facility practices and believes that we, as facility owners and managers, have a responsibility to be good stewards of our real estate. She is a steering committee member of Kimiko Green, a community of facilities and real estate leaders committed to solving the problem of 17 billion pounds of office assets dumped into US landfills every year.

Joanna spends all of her free time with her husband, toddler daughter, and giant rescue dog. They reside in Houston, Texas, and currently are in the throes of the threenager phase. Her passions include the efficient use of real estate, rockin out to live music, and hanging out in rivers with her family and friends

This content will not be available until 06/10/2024 at 8:00 AM (EDT)