Gary Press and Michelle Simon of Lifestyle Media Group with Andrew Koenig, CEO of CITY Furniture. (Photo Courtesy: CITY Furniture)
TAMARAC, Fla. – With South Florida flourishing as one the most multicultural regions in the nation, South Florida Business and Wealth (SFBW) hosted their annual Diversity & Inclusion Awards on June 15, 2022, honoring top executives throughout South Florida who display an ongoing dedication to a more equitable society.
Within the business sector, Andrew Koenig, CEO of CITY Furniture (CITY), was honored as the recipient of their coveted 2022 Diversity and Inclusion Award. “We’re both thrilled and humbled to have been selected by the committee for the diversity and inclusion award,” said Andrew Koenig, CEO of CITY. “It is a true honor to be recognized. At CITY, we embrace a philosophy of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and believe that is what allows us to innovate, collaborate, and grow as a community-focused company.”
SFBW’s Diversity & Inclusion Awards honored individuals across sectors, ranging from business and finance to healthcare and education, and non-profit organizations, community advocates and civic leadership. Awards were given for efforts by both teams and individuals alike, recognizing both influential citizens and civil servants in the areas of diversity, inclusion, and overall equality in the workplace and the community.
As CEO of CITY, Koenig works to ensure diversity and inclusion strategies are integrated in everything they do, and for Koenig, it starts with recruiting and hiring. Diverse backgrounds in the workplace bring different perspectives, ideas, skills, experiences, and work styles which cultivate innovation and problem-solving, and contribute to everyone’s success. To accomplish diversity in the recruitment of talent, CITY collaborates with several community partners and veteran organizations. As the company continues to grow and expand, Koenig remains vigilant that their workforce represents the communities they serve.
In 2021, CITY added a dedicated DE&I budget, developing key DE&I metrics to measure improvement in relation to goals, maintaining DE&I resource centers and important messaging within CITY’s internal communications platforms, enhancing social media with inclusive content, establishing partnerships with DE&I related companies and organizations, and developing a sourcing strategy for minority suppliers.
Koenig is a firm believer all associates should feel welcomed, respected, appreciated, valued, safe and are given opportunities to grow. Because of this, CITY is intentional in their efforts to build and foster an inclusive workforce, offering Employee Resource Groups (ERG) dedicated to addressing the needs of associates of various ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations and more. (CITY’s ERGs are not only open to Associates who identify with that community, but also to their allies.) The Company works to expand
perspectives and having open dialogue around people’s differences to help associates gain a greater understanding and appreciation for one another.