CEO Richard Forsyth on building Wendover into a luxury lifestyle powerhouse | Portrait

As Wendover Art Group continues to grow into a multi-faceted luxury lifestyle brand that now offers multiple home décor categories and the ability to customize everything they offer, Home Accents Today caught up with CEO Richard Forsyth to talk about where he sees the company heading and his integral role in its success.

Tell us a little bit about your background. What led you to start and grow your own business? 

I grew up in Raleigh, N.C., and had an opportunity to attend Wake Forest University. I knew from a young age that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. The second semester of my junior year I was able to study in London and I decided to stay. I worked on London Wall Street at Chase Manhattan Bank. While I was there, I read quite a bit. Richard Branson’s biography about his business journey — Losing My Virginity — inspired me to do all I could to pursue an entrepreneurial path.

When I left London, I had the opportunity to work at the investment banking firm Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. They were in the mid-size acquisition market and had an incredible culture, and I got to learn what makes a good business. I then worked on the “buy” side at a private equity firm, still concentrating on that middle market, gaining exposure to management teams and leaders of companies with revenues of $50M to $300M. I did all of that — a business degree, investment banking and private equity — so I could gain the experience and then go buy a company or create one. I wanted to be a builder and work with excellent people who were passionate about what they were doing. That was always my plan.

From that experience, how did you determine that wall decor was a good place to start? 

When I started buying companies, I owned several in the beginning that gave me exposure to home furnishings. The first was a kitchen and bath cabinet manufacturer, followed by an indoor/outdoor sports company sourcing in Asia. Through a weird confluence of factors. I bought three companies in the home decor space and put them together. This was where I learned a lot about what not to do.

From those experiences, I realized wall decor, especially framed art, could be a good business and I decided to enter that business in 2005.

What was Wendover like in the beginning and how has it evolved based on your vision for the company? 

When we purchased this company in 2005, 84 percent of its concentration was with two customers — BJ’s and Sam’s Club — doing business on consignment.

We aimed to transform that business model by focusing on the customer. With what we wanted to achieve — to be the best art company in the world — we had to have high expectations. We had to be better than who our target customers were buying from to get them to switch and stay with us. That was the foundational point for how we approached our business, for building our work ethic and for what we expected the people who worked for us to emulate.

It’s not just enough to have a great product. We have to always evolve with incredible new and fresh products. We also focus on having the best operations, quality, customer service and analytics. So many things have to happen in the right sequence and at the right time, and there are so many different skill sets needed. It’s like an orchestra.

Wendover is a domestic manufacturer with full vertical integration. We have exclusive artists, we do our own printing and we customize. We do all of this across all our product capabilities and brands, and we offer fast lead times. We started this company with 16 employees; now there are 300.

As a “builder,” what do you see for the future of Wendover and how are you achieving that vision? 

Wendover Luxury Lifestyle is a growth company, and we’re continuously looking for ways to improve. We’ve acquired companies [recent acquisitions include such brands as Kevin O’Brien Studio, Low Country Originals and Friedman Brothers] that allow us to offer a broader product base but can be integrated into our core culture and the experience we want to provide our customers. We’ve acquired companies that are great brands and have great stories and unique product capabilities. These acquisitions have also helped us to broaden our customer base. As we continue to evolve, I believe our greatest growth potential still lies ahead.

What does your customer base look like and how do you provide that “best experience” across the spectrum? 

We have many different customer typologies: the residential interior designer, lifestyle retailers and more. We know our many thousands of customers and understand their businesses. We’re listening though, so we understand their needs. We’re unique in that almost everything we do is domestic. We can customize and we have fast lead times (often three to five weeks). That gets our customers excited. Customer experience is important, from stepping into our showrooms through the entire process.

We’re very specific about the experience our Wendover customers have. We want our customers to be inspired and think of Wendover in ways that elevate their businesses. We’re focused on the storytelling that resonates with our customers, and we communicate proactively to provide the best service.

Our showrooms allow customers to experience Wendover Luxury Lifestyle in person. Our website is our biggest global showroom. We focus on making the user experience intuitive and easy. We also recently invested heavily in new showrooms at 200 Lexington in New York City and in the Dallas Design District — where we purchased two buildings — to meet our customers where they shop and provide immersive brand exposure.

What do you consider the most important part of your role at Wendover?

My role is to set the vision and architecture of where we’re headed at Wendover. What are we doing, where are we going and who are we doing it with? Our culture of maintaining the highest work ethic has to be clear and crystallized every day. I focus on leadership development. I grew up playing team sports. At Wendover, we have to function as an elite team. Everyone has to work together. That’s how you grow.

What does a perfect day at work look like for you?

I’m not seeking the perfect day at work. I’m seeking to make progress on our biggest challenges. What I get the most enjoyment from is seeing team members break through self-perceived ceilings, solving problems they couldn’t before.

Just for fun:

Can you share something surprising about yourself?

While I’m extroverted at work, I can be quite reserved and quiet at home. I’m also in love with skiing and enjoy heli-skiing, which speaks to my desire for adventure and physical activity.

What I like about skiing is the combination of the freedom, being at one with the mountain and the technical aspect to it, learning to ski in a certain way with an ever-changing face of gravity.

What’s on your bucket list that you plan to achieve?

I aim to participate in the Four Mountains ski race in Colorado, trusting that my love for skiing will drive me to accomplish it.

What holiday do you cherish the most and why?

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s a time for family, gratitude and celebrating what we have. If you can think about one thing you’re grateful for when you wake up every day and before you go up to bed, chances are it’s going to be a pretty good day. There’s so much we have to be thankful for, and to formally have a holiday around that is great.