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The NKBA past president shares insights about the past, present and future of the association and the K&B industry.

by Elisa Fernández-Arias

Martha Kerr, CMKBD is a former NKBA President with nearly 50 years of experience in the kitchen and bath industry. Kerr dedicated her career to the advancement of the K&B industry and worked on the development of the Bathroom Industry Technical Manuals, the precursor to NKBA’s current Planning Guidelines. She also assisted in the development of the Certified Bathroom Designer program, was the first recipient of the Certified Bath Designer (CBD) certification and the first woman elected President of NKBA, serving her term in 1985.

NKBA recently sat with Kerr to talk about her time as NKBA President, her career and life since her presidency and what she sees for the future of the K&B industry.  

Memories of NKBA

Looking back at her time as President of NKBA, Kerr had a couple of favorite memories. One was working with a group of dedicated professionals to develop the Certified Bathroom Designer program. The other was not a specific moment in time, but rather the overall experience of growing in so many ways through her relationships with other kitchen and bath professionals.

“What a great group of human beings,” said Kerr, referring to those she worked with while NKBA President.

Since her time as NKBA President, one of the changes Kerr has seen is the association’s ongoing dedication to education, with NKBA’s educational initiatives continuing to grow as the association constantly explores ways to strengthen their offerings for students, educators and schools — providing educational resources for use inside the classroom, but also support programming that helps students enhance their outside-the classroom experience, including participation in student chapters, collaboration with local professional chapters and access to interactive online programming.

The Future of K&B

Kerr is feeling upbeat about the future of kitchen and bath. “The industry will continue to grow and provide wonderful new products for making kitchens and baths more functional and environmentally friendly.” When asked about what she was excited about in the industry, Kerr said, “I feel particularly excited about the attention to aging in place and the attention designers are paying to that.”

Kerr’s Career and Life Out of Office

As for changes in her own life after serving as president, Kerr went on to work at Neil Kelly Company, which provides remodeling and home improvement services, for 49 years. After retiring in 2018, she and her partner spent a year and a half building a hospital in India for the nonprofit Hospital for Hope. She is now happily retired as a snowbird, spending half of the year in Oregon and the other half in Palm Desert, CA.

Advice for Those in the K&B Industry

At the end of the conversation, Kerr gave career advice that would be helpful to anyone at any stage in their K&B career. “You can’t grow unless you’re green,” she said. “Always stay open to learning, and you will always be growing.”