Cheryl Kern
Vice President in Zeeland , MI,
Cheryl Kern
Vice President in Zeeland , MI,
A diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) executive with close to 15 years of experience, Cheryl Kern serves as the DEIB vice president at MillerKnoll. She brings acumen in general management, social impact, employee engagement, and diverse business development to this role, which she assumed in 2021. Her responsibilities include leading the development and implementation of enterprise-wide strategies, integrating DEI and belonging initiatives as a business and talent enabler. She also leads DEI-related ESG aligned efforts focused on leveraging external partnerships and driving community impact.
In her capacity as MillerKnoll’s DEI vice president, Kern has reimagined DEI initiatives which have global reach and benefit the company and broader design industry. During Cheryl’s tenure the organization has continued to emerge as a leader in the DEI arena, including: MillerKnoll received two regional honors for supplier diversity, its strategy for advancing gender diversity led to its selection as a finalist for the 2022 Athena Organizational Leadership Award. In 2022, Fast Company presented an Innovation by Design Award to the company’s Diversity in Design Collaborative, a cross-industry CEO inspired consortium which is led by Ms. Kern’s team to positively affect inequities in the design field and to foster the progress of underrepresented communities.
Ms. Kern’s engagement in DEI extends outside of her work at MillerKnoll, as well. A contributor to professional dialogue regarding DEI in business and the workplace, she has delivered presentations at Diversity Best Practice (now Seramount) conferences, for the Conference Board at the Forum on Workplace Inclusion, for SWE, NSBE, BEYA and internationally across three continents. Among other affiliations, she is a member of the Women’s Business Collaborative and sits on Dress for Success Worldwide’s board of directors.
Moreover, Cheryl Kern’s DEI accomplishments and contributions have garnered her various commendations. She received a Corp! Diversity Business Leader Award in 2023 and earned a place on DiversityGlobal Magazine’s Top 10 Influential Women in Diversity in 2022. The year prior, the National Diversity Council recognized her as a DEI Influencer.