COE Distributing’s J.D. Ewing Spearheads IOPFDA Educational Programming for Mid-Market Dealers

J.D. Ewing

A team of industry experts is filling a void in training and education programs to equip smaller furniture dealers for success in today’s challenging economic environment.

The Independent Office Products and Furniture Dealers Association’s (IOPFDA) furniture committee brings dealers, manufacturers, and sales representatives together to help mid-market dealers improve the operation, efficiency, and profitability of their furniture divisions.

Led by J.D. Ewing, Chairman and CEO of COE Distributing, and Charles Foreman, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing of ISG, IOPFDA’s furniture committee provides best practices information to this segment of the market.

“We’ve developed and continue to develop programming to address a variety of topics related to technology, government advocacy, business management issues, and pandemic strategies for smaller dealers,” Ewing said.

Raised in the family business, Ewing had hands on involvement at every level of his organization and became well versed in overcoming challenges as he scaled the wholesale office furniture supplier’s operations to serve the U.S. and Caribbean from three distribution centers with 700,00 square feet of inventory.

Ewing planned big shifts in business strategy to move forward from COVID challenges, including investments in e-commerce strategies. When the crisis of astronomical inflation of freight and commodities prices hit, those efforts became even more key, along with teaching the public about how such massive inflation inevitably impacts the cost of items on retail shelves. Since its inception in October 2021, the committee has shared this type of expertise across the industry.

“The committee, under J.D.’s leadership, is working to give small and mid-sized dealers tools that will help them navigate current business impediments and thrive when the threats of COVID variants and volatile freight prices and supply shortages diminish,” said Mike Tucker, IOPFDA’s executive director.

The committee also participates in IOPFDA’s advocacy work on Capitol Hill, to learn about policy issues facing the industry from Washington insiders and address topics such as supply chain challenges, labor shortages, tax and tariff issues and federal workplace standards head on.

IOPFDA was formed in 1904 and has more than 600 members consisting of office products and furniture dealers, manufacturers, wholesalers, manufacturer representatives, and industry service providers across the United States.