In January 2024, Shane Richmond was named president of Fishman Flooring Solutions, a flooring tools and supplies distributor based in Baltimore, Maryland, making him the fifth person in the firm’s more than 100-year history to hold that role. Floor Trends & Installation recently spoke with Richmond about his new role and his outlook for the flooring installation industry over the next year to 18 months.

Floor Trends and Installation: You began your Fishman Flooring Solutions career in 1997 in an entry-level position in Raleigh, North Carolina. At the time, did you ever envision that you would one day be president of Fishman? 

Shane Richmond: The short answer is no. When I joined Fishman 27 years ago, I had no idea that I would ever be responsible for the entire business. I was very fortunate to start my career with Fishman working inside the Raleigh branch, where I learned about our products, our customers, and all functions inside our business.

My early years with Fishman were mostly spent in sales and sales leadership roles. This allowed me to learn about the things that are important to our customers and how we can bring value to them. Understanding what our customers value was extremely important as I was given new roles with increasing responsibility.

Floor Trends & Installation: Fishman has said that you have been preparing specifically for your role as president of the firm for several years as part of the company’s succession plan. Can you describe that preparation and why it was important?

Richmond: After joining our senior leadership team in 2017 as part of our succession planning, I gained experience with many facets of our business beyond sales. I spent time with our operations and purchasing functions, as well as interacting with our finance, human resources, and information systems teams. This gave me a much deeper understanding of how each of our teams works together to fulfill our mission. This time also allowed me to engage further with many of our vendor partners to ensure that Fishman will continue to bring the best products available to our customers.

FLOOR Trends & Installation: How does Fishman’s succession plan make a difference for the business?

Richmond: An important part of the culture at Fishman is that we offer employees opportunities for advancement across our company. Many current and past employees have grown with the company, holding multiple positions with increasing responsibility during their careers with us.

Succession planning ensures that the values, principles, and traditions of our business are passed along to the next generation of leaders. Effective succession planning not only empowers our employees to excel, but it also elevates the quality of service and support that we provide our customers.

FLOOR Trends & Installation: Unlike most distributors of flooring installation products, Fishman is 100 percent employee owned. How does that make a difference for both your employees and the business?

Richmond: There are many benefits from our Employee Stock Ownership Plan or ESOP as it is known. From an employee perspective, our approximately 250 employee owners accumulate shares in the company over time, building wealth for their future retirement. They also own a piece of the pie, which leads to increased productivity, better customer service, and higher overall performance.

The company benefits from the ESOP because turnover among our employee owners is lower than most companies in our marketplace, which is a significant competitive advantage. We have enjoyed many years of continuous growth, including during challenging economic headwinds and the pandemic. We believe that employee ownership is one of the key drivers of that success and will continue to be in the future.

FLOOR Trends & Installation: Bob Wagner, your predecessor at the helm of Fishman Flooring Solutions, is now chairman and CEO of L. Fishman & Son. How does his role differ from yours? Who does what? 

Richmond: Bob is now responsible for the growth of L. Fishman & Son, of which Fishman Flooring Solutions is a subsidiary. He’s focusing on acquisitions and business development in industries related to our flooring business. Bob is also safeguarding our company culture, ensuring that we continue to adhere to the values that are the backbone of everything that we do.

I’m responsible for all day-to-day activity within Fishman Flooring Solutions. As I see it, my most important responsibility is to ensure that we delight our customers with every product, service, and solution that we provide.   

I also continue to be a member of our highly experienced senior leadership team, which collectively has considerably more than 100 years of experience in the flooring industry – most of it with Fishman. This team has led our business through many years of continuous growth during both great and challenging times and is well prepared to drive our growth into the future.

FLOOR Trends & Installation: How do you see the flooring installation marketplace evolving over the next 12 to 18 months? 

Richmond: First and foremost, I’m an optimist. I believe our industry will see moderate growth by the end of 2024 and that growth will continue into 2025.

That said, I think that we are heading into a murky economy in the near term. Until mortgage interest rates come down, we are likely to see fewer houses being bought and sold, negatively impacting the residential portion of the flooring marketplace. So far this year, we’ve seen some growth with our customers who focus on the commercial side of the market. We expect this to continue through the summer and into 2025.

FLOOR Trends & Installation: Fishman has grown organically, opening several new branches in recent years. Do you expect this organic growth to continue?

Richmond: When I started with Fishman, we had 12 branches in four states. Today, we operate 40 locations in 11 states. Our customers have counted on Fishman to provide the flooring installation supplies and technical support they have required for more than 50 years and we will continue to meet their needs. We believe that having local inventory is important to our customer relationships, so we are always looking for our next location. Expanding our footprint both organically, as well as through acquisition, to best serve current and future customers is a priority for our company. We are continuously partnering with our vendors to identify new opportunities and markets to serve.