IIDA Leaders Breakfast (Leaders) is an annual international event series hosted by eight local IIDA chapters with the support of IIDA Headquarters, international benefactor MillerKnoll, and media partner Interior Design.

Leaders events celebrate design’s importance in the global marketplace by honoring the people who are both the legacy and future of design. Each event features a renowned keynote speaker who enlightens, provokes, and encourages new ideas, and a celebration recognizing one local honoree who has made significant contributions to the design industry.

2023 Leaders Breakfast Events:

Vancouver | April 13, 2023

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2022 Leaders Breakfast Events:

New York | May 12, 2022

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New York Leaders Breakfast 2022 Honoree: Jennifer Graham, IIDA, LEEP AP.

Houston | August 26, 2022

Houston Leaders Breakfast 2022 Honoree: Stephanie Burritt, IIDA.

San Francisco | September 9, 2022

Toronto | September 19, 2022

Los Angeles | October 7, 2022

Dallas | October 21, 2022

Atlanta | October 27, 2022

Chicago | December 9, 2022

Chicago Leaders Breakfast 2022 Honoree: Jim Prendergast, IIDA.

Leadership Award of Excellence

Presentation of the Leadership Award of Excellence is the signature activity at every Leaders event. This award recognizes an honoree, typically a member of the local design community, for their exemplary leadership within the profession of commercial interior design and architecture or a non-practitioner for outstanding contributions to the profession. Honorees are presented with the iconic Eames stool, customized in Leaders Breakfast red, to commemorate their achievements.

Honorees are selected for their achievements recognized by IIDA that have advanced the interior design profession, have a history of conscientious and ethical behavior with colleagues, clients, and others in business interactions, and have been recognized within their local professional design community. Honorees have a strong connection to IIDA and reinforce the Association’s significance in the design community.

History

Launched in New York in 1989 by Jeannie Bochette of Steelcase, the IIDA Leaders Breakfast series began as a single event. The goal was to introduce IIDA to the business world as a leading association of commercial interior design and to inform IIDA members about the major issues affecting them and the industry. The event established a forum where members and their clients could participate and network with their peers.

Since expanding to Toronto with the help of the Interior Designers of Canada (IDC) in 2007, and through the support of international benefactor MillerKnoll and media partner Interior Design, Leaders Breakfast has become an annual international event series that celebrates design's importance in the global marketplace.