Lisa Vaninger-Gaffney, furniture representative, Henricksen & Co.

By ROBERTA CODEMO
    Lisa Vaninger-Gaffney has worked in the contract furniture business for more than 18 years. “I fell in love with it,” she said.
    She spent 10 years as a manufacturer’s representative and eight years as a furniture dealer representative.  “This gets me closer to my clients so that I can truly understand their needs and concerns.  Voice of the customer is the most important ingredient in planning and providing furniture for their new or existing spaces.”  
    She joined the global, multi-million-dollar Illinois-based contract furniture and design dealer in 2014. Headquartered in Itasca, Henricksen & Co has been in business for more than 51 years and is one of the largest dealers in the country with seven locations.
    Married for 22 years to husband Tim and originally from Lebanon, she moved back to O’Fallon after living in Springfield for 27 years. She belongs to several organizations including O’Fallon Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, SICHE and MOSHE.  
    A senior account executive, she works with clients nationwide. Her focus is on design, sales, business development and project management, with a team of 24 designers and 34 project managers to support her. She loves building relationships with her clients and working with them to achieve their end result and seeing that their employees are happy and productive.