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Walker Edison is excited to announce a new Employee Resource Group (ERG) for our LGBTQ+ employees and their allies – WE Pride. Brad Bonham, Walker Edison CEO, said of this announcement, “We are excited to announce this new employee resource group that supports our LGBTQ+ employees. Feeling safe, supported, and empowered is paramount to our focus on providing a great place to work. We love and appreciate all of our colleagues at Walker Edison and look forward to our future success together.” The mission for our WE Pride ERG is: WE Pride strives to create a safe space for Walker Edison’s LGBTQ+ employees and their allies while providing them with the resources needed for growth and development. Our group celebrates and furthers Walker Edison’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. 6 goals of WE PRIDE
We are thrilled to have Kayla Thomas as the group’s chair and Alicia Definis as the executive sponsor. Alicia said as part of this announcement, “At Walker Edison we aspire to be not only the best place to work in Utah but also in the country and beyond. Diversity and inclusion is absolutely essential to our success on that journey. My vision is for Walker Edison to be a place where differences are not tolerated but celebrated and where every individual feels comfortable and empowered to be their most authentic self. I encourage everyone to let their rainbow flags fly as members of the LGBTQ community or as allies!"  Photo by Cecilie Johnsen on Unsplash
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Tomorrow is an official holiday for our employees as we look forward to celebrating Juneteenth this Saturday, June 19th. Juneteenth is also known as Freedom Day, Liberation Day, or Emancipation Day and celebrates the emancipation of those who have been enslaved in the United States. Around this time last year, we realized that as an organization we needed to make a more concentrated effort towards diversity, equity, and inclusion. Since then Walker Edison has:
As we look back on this past year’s progress, we are excited as we envision the impact our continued efforts will be able to make as we continue making strides as an organization.  Graphic from: IIDA Northern California We were so excited to celebrate with our employees and the community today as we officially opened our global headquarters located in West Jordan, Utah. Walker Edison’s number one core value is “WE Give”, and so that was at the heart of this Grand Opening celebration. First, we chose the Jordan Education Foundation as our charity partner for the event. This foundation helps students and their families in the Jordan School District. As part of this partnership, we offered $15 food truck vouchers for all monetary donations as well as hygiene item donations. In addition, we donated all sales from walkeredisonshop.com and our warehouse sale. In total, we donated $32,770 and hundreds of hygiene items. We were also able to participate in a Make-A-Wish Proclamation for 4-yr-old Wish Kid, Hannah. You can read more about how we incorporated WE Give into this event over on our charity page. The event started with a ribbon cutting ceremony with remarks from our CEO Brad Bonham, Governor Spencer Cox, Mayor Dirk Burton, and Steven Hall from the Jordan Education Foundation. In attendance were political and community leaders, leaders of local nonprofits we work closely with, business partners, employees and their families, as well as local community members. Following the ribbon cutting, there was a celebration for employees, family, friends and the West Jordan community! There were so many fun activities and local vendors including:
WEST JORDAN, Utah, May 24, 2021 -- Walker Edison, a leading supplier of furniture with an exclusive focus on the e-commerce channel, announced today that funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities (NYSE: BX; "Blackstone") have made a significant minority investment in the Company. The Company's Founders, Brad Bonham and Matt Davis, and controlling investor Prospect Hill Growth Partners maintain a majority stake.
Walker Edison designs and supplies affordable, ready-to-assemble furniture. Their extensive logistical network and data-driven business model provides an end-to-end solution to leading global e-commerce platforms – allowing their partners to seamlessly offer a wide variety of products with fast shipping to consumers. Brad Bonham, Co-Founder and CEO of Walker Edison, said: "We've made tremendous progress since partnering with Prospect Hill Growth Partners in 2018. Adding Blackstone as a partner alongside Prospect Hill is an exciting step in our evolution as a data-centric e-commerce enabler. Our hyper-growth has been driven by our pivot to data, and we believe that growth will only accelerate by partnering with Blackstone's unique offerings in data science, logistics, and supply chain as we continue to expand across the globe." Jasvinder Khaira, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said: "Walker Edison is a pioneer in its sector and trusted partner to many of the world's leading e-commerce platforms. The continued shift toward online purchasing and strengthening consumer recovery are two of Blackstone's highest conviction investment themes – and the company is poised for significant further expansion. We are excited to work with their first-class management team to help further accelerate their growth in the years ahead." Ann Chung, a Managing Director at Blackstone, said: "Walker Edison's combination of scale, technology, and product offerings have made it a leader in the fast-growing online furniture industry. We believe their business is well positioned to benefit from strong tailwinds moving forward as e-commerce adoption continues to rise – particularly among younger furniture customers." David Fiorentino, a Partner at Prospect Hill Growth Partners, said: "We continue to believe strongly in the value proposition of Walker Edison as a data-driven, e-commerce enablement solution. We are excited to continue our partnership with the Founders, Brad and Matt, and welcome Blackstone's expertise in e-commerce as we continue to build a category-leading company across the globe." Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Ropes & Gray served as legal advisor and Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Lincoln International, LLC served as financial advisors to Walker Edison. Simpson Thacher Bartlett served as legal advisor to Blackstone. About Walker Edison Since its establishment in 2006, Walker Edison has become a leading partner and drop-ship solution for the biggest names in e-commerce. Driven by data, they strive to cultivate a culture that inspires customers to Live Outside the Box™ with innovative furniture. Walker Edison is a global organization with operations in Brazil, Asia, the UK, and Germany. To learn more visit www.walkeredison.com. Follow Walker Edison on Instagram @WalkerEdisonCo. About Blackstone Blackstone is one of the world's leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $649 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone. Blackstone Tactical Opportunities Tactical Opportunities (Tac Opps) is Blackstone's opportunistic investment platform. The Tac Opps team invests globally across asset classes, industries and geographies, seeking to identify and execute on attractive, differentiated investment opportunities. As part of the strategy, the team leverages the intellectual capital across Blackstone's various businesses while continuously optimizing its approach in the face of ever-changing market conditions. About Prospect Hill Growth Partners Prospect Hill Growth Partners is a Boston-area private equity firm that makes equity investments of up to $100 million in North American consumer and healthcare growth companies. The partners of Prospect Hill Growth Partners have invested $2.8 billion of capital in 37 portfolio companies while working together over the last two decades. The partners' successful investment track record has been built on a sector-focused strategy, a robust operational value-add model, and strong alignment of interests. For more: www.prospecthillgrowth.com. ###  A big congratulations to our President, Joana McKenna, for being named one of Utah Business’s 2021 30 Women to Watch!
Utah Business says on their website of this award, “Though the first female recession has hit women hard in the labor force, there is no shortage of women breaking barriers and blazing ahead despite difficulty. Help us celebrate the women of Utah who are leading the way in business, law, education, and so much more.” Walker Edison is thrilled to celebrate such a well-deserved recognition with Joana. Joana joined Walker Edison in 2020 and brought with her over 20 years of e-commerce experience in building global brands and businesses, inspiring innovative thinking, and driving international growth. She is a dynamic, people-first leader who has held several senior positions at Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, and Walmart. To see the full list of honorees, visit www.utahbusiness.com/2021-30-women-to-watch-honorees This post is from an article posted on LinkedIn written by our SVP of Global Sales & Partner Growth, Lance Ferguson. When we were sitting down as an executive team to lay out our company values, being feisty and persevering was discussed and worded in several different ways; being scrappy, never giving up, overcoming any obstacle, tough, and several others. It is one of my favorite values, because in life, I was taught from a young age that I am the only one who gets to decide my future. I would face obstacles or challenges, and people would try and tell me I couldn’t, or it was impossible to succeed. I learned that it is up to me to decide what is possible, not anyone else or any circumstance. If you believe it can be done and are willing to put the work in, you can make the unachievable or impossible possible. We determined as a team that being Feisty & Persevering was the value that embodied the spirit of never being able to be held back. From the very beginning of Walker Edison, our founders lived the value of being feisty and persevering, ingraining it into the very fibers of our organization. Walker Edison was just in its infancy when the 2008 recession hit and shut down so many companies. Our founders looked at this challenge and figured out where our product was still needed and how to get it in front of those that were looking. They synced up with our partners and found a way to gain better exposure for the items we had online. Because of this, WE saw growth during the recession and has not stopped growing since. Being feisty and persevering walk hand in hand. It means when challenges arise and roadblocks appear you find a way through or around, and you never give up. You team up with the other great minds around you, with your partners, and you find a solution. The Covid-19 pandemic gave us so many opportunities to do exactly that. In March of last year, everyone was forced to go 100% remote and thought we would be back in the office within a couple of weeks. Overnight, our routines, habits, and way of doing business changed completely. Our customer shopping trends changed and needs shifted with no warning to prepare. I watched as my team worked through these challenges and then the additional challenges that I threw at them saying, “Business/life goes on. What do our partners and customers need and what do we need to shift?” One team came forward with the idea that people were going to need home office furniture and quickly. We took this idea, and in the first days of being sent home we immediately reached out to our partners to get home office pushed to the top of their pages. As you can imagine, we immediately saw incredible results from that decision. Over the coming weeks and months, we continued to find needs and fill them. Even as more challenges arose, and we discovered people would be home for months and possibly a year, there was never a point where we sat back and said, “This is going to crush us, let’s pull back and be safe.” WE pressed forward and doubled down on inventory and put in place more promotions to help our partners with customer demand as people moved their purchasing to online. We continued to modify how we ran team meetings to stay connected as coworkers and friends while discussing the challenges frankly so we could adapt quickly. While the past year has had challenges in society, at work, and in all our lives, I am proud of the teams at Walker Edison and how we rose together to overcome our obstacles. Taking each new challenge for what it is, an opportunity to grow and become stronger, the teams here at WE have come together and continue to show the virtue that was built into the fibers of our company on the first day - WE are feisty and we persevere.   SALT LAKE CITY – Walker Edison, a leading provider of RTA furniture, is thrilled to announce the promotion of Lance Ferguson to Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Partner Growth as well as the addition of Alicia DeFinis as the Vice President of Partner Growth.
Lance Ferguson has been with Walker Edison for over 10 years. During that time, his leadership has impacted Walker Edison greatly and has successfully seen the company through a recession, a global pandemic, and unprecedented growth. Lance has helped to build out diverse teams and develop structures that scale for both the North American and European teams. His expanded scope in this new role will include supporting the sales strategy and partner acquisition goals for the E.U. while continuing to oversee the development of Walker Edison’s North American Partner Growth Team. Alicia DeFinis will lead the growth of their North American Partner ecosystem, including partner development, channels, sales, and partner onboarding. Alicia brings global sales and leadership experience spanning ecommerce, technology, and marketplaces. Most recently, she led several teams at Walmart eCommerce, including channel partnerships, sales, and strategic business development. Prior to this, she held several senior positions at Amazon and Pure Storage, where she played an instrumental role launching hundred-million-dollar brands and developing and implementing new partner acquisition and go-to-market strategy. This restructure for Walker Edison’s Sales and Partner Management team aligns with their 2021 goals to transform the partner experience, improve the customer experience, embed operational excellence, and accelerate growth. Joana McKenna, President of Walker Edison said of these changes, “We are thrilled to have Alicia join us and for this promotion of Lance. This is just a small reflection on the growth and progress happening here at Walker Edison and we are looking forward to what the future continues to hold for us.” About Walker Edison: Since its establishment in 2006, Walker Edison has become a leading partner and drop-ship solution for the biggest names in e-commerce. Driven by data, we strive to cultivate a culture that inspires our customers to Live Outside the Box™ with innovative furniture. Walker Edison is a global organization with operations in Brazil, Asia, the UK, and Germany. ### FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Brittany Smart, Public Relations Specialist brittany.smart@walkeredison.com A big congratulations to our CEO, Brad Bonham on being recognized as a CEO of the Year by Utah Business today! Brad has led Walker Edison with vision, integrity and compassion. His genuine concern for the Walker Edison team inspires them to push harder and take this company further. Thank you for leading by example and inspiring everyone to reach their full potential so that Walker Edison can reach its full potential. Click here to watch the interview video shown during the event, and you can find the full list of 2021 honorees on the Utah Business website.  As an immigrant and leader of a Utah-based company, I wanted to share some feelings directly from my heart: grief, frustration, and confusion. Like many, I’ve had a hard time processing the recent series of racist hate crimes against the Asian community.
I’m filled with grief that I need to worry about the safety of my closest friends and colleagues… having a genuine concern if they will be attacked while walking in their neighborhoods. The idea that my best friend can be attacked - simply because she is Asian - is beyond frustrating. I’m confused on how people can sit ideally by when hate crimes against Asians have increased by 1900% since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This past year has been painful for all of us. The pandemic has forced us to keep physically distant from each other. However, this physical distance should not manifest into misplaced anger, hate, or fear. There is no reason for Asians to be considered as a threat nor should anyone have to explain their reason for simply being. Now more than ever, we must stand against racism, refusing to justify or tolerate its existence. I deeply care about the immigrant community I belong to. I’m very proud of the impact ecommerce has made on the global home industry and how it has led to some of the biggest growth in home trends of recent years. Walker Edison is closely connected to the APAC Regions as we have long-standing operations in China, Malaysia, Vietnam and we continue to source key materials from across our APAC vendors. Walker Edison stands against racism. We will continue to use our platform to speak up against hate; actively be anti-racist; and push for greater diversity, equity and inclusion in our workplace, the global home industry, and beyond. Together, we can support the Asian community and stop the hate. Much Love, Joana Happy International Women’s Day - today we celebrate women everywhere! “On International Women's Day, let's remember that when we support and provide opportunities for women and girls to be equal, everyone is greater for it,” said Joana McKenna, President of Walker Edison. Walker Edison has signed the ElevateHER™ pledge through the Women’s Leadership Institute and is committed to increasing the percentage of women in leadership, increasing the retention rate of women at all levels, monitoring pay and closing any identified gaps, as well as establishing leadership development and mentoring programs for women. Our ERG, the Women of Walker Edison, is committed to encouraging and elevating women through an environment of learning and allyship. This group spearheads programing designed to foster diversity and inclusion for the employees of Walker Edison while giving women a forum to find their voice and be heard. WOWE promotes the presence of female managers and executives by encouraging and elevating women while celebrating their own successes. There are so many ways you can celebrate women today and every day. Celebrate women’s achievements, raise awareness to bias and inequality, seek out educational opportunities, and elevate those around you.  |
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