Art DeFehr: Businessman and humanitarian
Palliser CEO has touched lives around the world
By Michael J. Knell -- Furniture Today, March 31, 2003
Winnipeg, Manitoba — Art DeFehr has built one of the most successful Canadian companies ever.
But he's done much more than that, contributing his time, prestige and personal wealth to a long list of humanitarian projects that have touched and improved lives around the globe.
A highly regarded and widely known industry figure, his accomplishments as president and chief executive officer of Palliser Furniture have been extensively reported.
Today, the company founded by his father, Abram DeFehr, in 1944 has annual sales of about C$600 million and over 5,000 employees.
Palliser is Canada's largest manufacturer of assembled household furniture and the largest private-sector employer in the province of Manitoba. DeFehr has been CEO since 1984.
His accomplishments as a furniture manufacturer will be recognized during the April market when the International Home Furnishings Representatives Assn. presents him with the Pillar of the Industry award.
A life without borders
For most men, building an enterprise such as Palliser would be a lifetime's work in itself. DeFehr says his business accomplishments have been deeply satisfying, but the work that fired his soul and imagination often has been found in remote places of the world, usually in the midst of conflict or disaster.
At other times, such as when he marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Alabama during the glory days of the civil rights movement in the mid-1960s, it has been closer to home.
"I marched with Martin Luther King and I am very proud of that," DeFehr said, adding he believes he's been blessed to be able to combine his business life with his other passions.
A devout Mennonite, the 60-year-old DeFehr has been deeply involved in human rights issues most of his life. In fact, that commitment was what brought him into the family business he earlier had no real intention of joining. His original career goal had been to join the Canadian diplomatic corps, but that walk from Selma to Montgomery earned him an FBI file and, subsequently, an unexpected but not regretted career change.
DeFehr admits it's Palliser's growth and success that has enabled him to pursue his various humanitarian endeavors. "In fact, the furniture business has allowed me to work on various activities and in various world causes without the constraints faced by regular diplomats," he said.
His unofficial diplomatic career includes a number of highlights.
As a member of the Mennonite Central Committee, he was the first director of a still ongoing agricultural restoration and innovation project in Bangladesh. DeFehr directed the project from 1972 to 1974.
In 1980 and 1981, he was part of the Landbridge Program, which brought relief supplies to the people of Cambodia at the end of Khmer Rouge dictatorship. "This was probably the most difficult assignment," he said. "We were trying to help nearly 1 million refugees."
Helping Somali refugees
He then served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to Somalia in 1982 and 1983, directing an aid program to over 400,000 refugees in an extremely difficult political environment. It was during this mission that he began his friendship with Kofi Annan, the current secretary general of the United Nations.
Throughout the 1990s, DeFehr was involved in establishing an independent business community in Russia after the fall of communism, including starting a high-tech farm equipment plant and founding the Lithuania Christian College, an English-speaking, university-level institution that is now fully accredited and operating on a new campus.
For many years he was president of International Development Enterprises, a Canadian organization that provides market-oriented solutions to developmental problems. It has programs in such countries as Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and southern Africa.
He also has been active in the Habitat for Humanity organization since its founding.
DeFehr's work around the world on these humanitarian projects has had an impact on Palliser's evolution and growth, he said.
"We've acted globally for the past 30 years," DeFehr said, noting Palliser's market focus has been North America but the company has researched ideas, sourced raw materials and manufactured as far afield as Indonesia and Mexico. "And Palliser always has seen itself as a bridge between North America and Europe in terms of styling," DeFehr said.
He says his experiences have deeply affected him as a person. "I believe it also made me sensitive to people issues," he said. Palliser's employees hail from 70 different countries and speak some 40 languages.
J. Ralph Stump, president of the Charlotte, N.C.-based Stump Financial Corp., has known DeFehr for 15 years.
"He is one of the most ethical and moral individuals I have ever known," Stump said. "Even before I met him, I was aware that Palliser was a company that had an exemplary image of integrity and innovation. It comes out in everything he does, including his duties as CEO of Palliser as well as in his many philanthropic efforts and in they way he deals with people at all levels.
"He is also a very global person and that was true long before furniture imports became such a hot topic," Stump continued. "He is a strategic thinker who inspires everyone around him to think outside the box. With all his charismatic qualities, he is a devout family man dedicated to his church, employees, community and country."
DeFehr has been active both in the Canadian furniture industry and in the business community at large.
He was a member of a number of advisory bodies created by the Canadian government during the negotiations leading up to both the original Free Trade Agreement with the United States and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
DeFehr was chairman of an initiative to establish a German-style technical university in Canada's wood products sector. The program was established at the University of British Columbia and is funded by both government and industry.
In addition to memberships on the Manitoba Business Council and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, he has been a member of the World Economic Forum and last year was named a member of the Trilateral Commission, one of 12 Canadians in that 450-member organization. Founded by David Rockefeller, the commission brings together business people, academics, professionals, government officials and others to discussion world problems and possible solutions.
The recent announcement that he will receive IHFRA's Pillar of the Industry Award is the latest in a series of honors DeFehr has received.
Last year, he received an honorary doctorate of laws degree from the University College of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
In 2001 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Entrepreneur of the Year program organized by Ernst & Young, the international accounting and management consulting firm.
The year before that he was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Manitoba Business magazine, and in 1998 he received his first honorary doctorate of laws degree from his alma mater, the University of Manitoba.
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