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Ken Rohl, Former CEO of ROHL Corporation and past NKBA Hall of Famer, shares his insights about the association and industry, as well as business advice from his co-authored book, “The Corporateneur Plan.”

by Elisa Fernández-Arias

Ken Rohl, former CEO of ROHL Corporation and NKBA Hall of Famer, has been in the kitchen and bath industry for over 50 years. Rohl was inducted into the NKBA Hall of Fame in 2008, and has also held several leadership positions at NKBA, including Board of Directors, National Strategic Planning Group, National Manufacturer’s Representatives Council and NKBA Ambassador’s Club. He was also the vice president of the Southern California Chapter for six years.

NKBA recently sat down with Ken Rohl to ask him about his time at NKBA, the work and projects he’s undertaken since his time there, and what he sees as the future of the kitchen and bath industry.

Since being inducted into the NKBA Hall of Fame, what have you been doing?

In 2008, we had a company called Rohl, LLC., a $75 million manufacturer of luxury plumbing. The economy took a 40 percent hit — so, like other major entities in the industry, we took a major cut in our revenue and survived that economic reversal. Then, from 2008 to 2016, we rebuilt the company…again, to a near $100 million corporation. Then, in 2016, we were acquired by a Fortune brand. So on a business level, I was busy from 2008 to 2016, rebuilding the organization, rebuilding our relationships and basically returning the company to being a fiscally responsible entity that had a major position, at least in the luxury side of the business.

On a personal level — because of the maturity of our organization, and the blessings of having three sons in the business — I was able to delegate more and more of the authority of the company, position Lou as CEO, Mark as the President of the Eastern Region, and my son Greg as President of the Western Region. And I started participating with the University of California – Irvine, becoming a trustee and starting to focus on community activities.

At that time, I also became Chairman of the Irvine Barclay Theatre, so I was able to pursue one of my personal interests, theater arts. I was also able to bring some business acumen to a theater arts organization that was strong and creative but a little weak on the business side. Happily, I took a theater arts group from a marginal financial position to a very successful position.

Most recently, my son Greg and I authored a book called  “The Corporateneur Plan,” which is going to be published on June 6 by an offside of Forbes Books.This book charts my story, growing up on the East Coast, and being in corporate America in the Midwest for 25 years, and then starting my own business. Thus the name, which reflects the marriage of a corporate career and an entrepreneurial career. The ideas in this book are very contemporary in our family thinking at the moment. It’s probably the platform for Greg and Lou to develop their own consulting business — which is probably the next iteration of the Rohl family legacy.

What is your favorite memory or most memorable NKBA moment?

One of my memorable NKBA moments occurred when I was on the Board of Directors in the 1970s. We had a Board meeting in Jamaica and had a great experience meeting with the publishers of Kitchen & Bath Business (KBB) — the Gralla Organization. I was tasked with heading a committee to work with them to continue expanding the annual AIKD Kitchen Show (now known as KBIS) and am happy to report we had a successful meeting that put our annual AIKD Kitchen show on the path to becoming the great success story of KBIS today!

What is the biggest change you have seen in NKBA since you were inducted into the Hall of Fame?

I’ve been particularly impressed with the diversification of leadership, and it starts with Bill Darcy and Suzie Williford. I think they’re very dynamic leaders, I think they’ve created for NKBA an almost international presence. And their leadership has resulted in the professionalizing of the Board of Directors and the leadership of the association, as well as the diversification of the association, both domestically and internationally. And I think that today the leadership of NKBA — and of KBIS, colocated with IBS — has created for both the industry and the show an international presence and platform that represents all facets of the remodeling and new construction industry. The leadership has also provided for a contrast, or a comparison, to a Salon de Mobile-type show and other European shows that for years were kind of a magnet for the design influences of the industry.

Where do you see the kitchen and bath industry going in the future? What are you feeling optimistic or excited about?

I’m going to use a little bit of history to answer that question. For the last couple of years, I’ve been of the opinion that the present — let’s call it the period of 2023 through 2033 — demographically is similar in many ways to 1983 through 2003. Back in 1983, we had the beginning of the Baby Boomer growth. And companies like Rohl “rode on the back,” if you will, of the demographic growth of the Baby Boomer population — which was somewhere in the area of 100 million people.

I think that, currently, between the Millennials and the Gen Zers, we have another opportunity, arising out of the transfer of wealth from the Baby Boomers to the Gen Zers and Millennials, that is fueling another significant growth. This, in turn, is going to benefit our industry. Because remodeling is going to be such a major part of our economy — and, for the first time, more Millennials own homes than rent homes.

So I think there’s great promise that the Millennials are going to stimulate the new construction market. And I think that John Burns would agree with me, that the future is quite exciting for the kitchen and bath industry and those associated with the building industry.

And, harkening back to something we discussed earlier, I think that the international position of the kitchen and bath industry also is and will be enhanced significantly as we go forward. I think there will be a continuing synergy between what’s going on, primarily, I think, in Western Europe, and what’s going on here economically. And I’m sure that there’s an opportunity for international manufacturers to participate in our kitchen and bath industry.

Throughout your career, what is the best advice you have received?

When you read my book, part of my teaching is made up of corporate lessons I brought into Rohl. So instead of the traditional entrepreneur approach to a startup, I had the benefit of some understanding of mission statements and vision statements and action plans and all of the formal approaches to business. But as a marketing guy and a sales guy and a teacher, one of the lessons that has really been most important is this: You achieve a lot more by listening than talking. And the first lesson of sales is, “Find out what the customer wants and give it to them.”

When I was talking to Greg Rohl, my son, about this question, he said, “Dad, why don’t you tell them what you really think?” And…that would have been a quote from my mother, many, many years ago, when she said, “Kenneth, throw the first punch.” Following this advice, I’d say that I was never shy about making sure that people understood where I was coming from. And I think that the real lesson learned is: be consistent and own the promises you make, making sure that you deliver on them.

Also, in business, your approach should be “win-win.” At Rohl, for example, we always wanted to create “win-wins” for our suppliers and our customers. One of the words that was extremely important to me was “partnership” — as opposed to just a “relationship.” We were partners with our customers, we were partners with our suppliers, and we had to create a “win-win” environment to build our relationships around. You can learn many lessons like this and more from the forthcoming book from me and my son, Greg, “The Corporateneur Plan.”