Danez Black, President of Contract Furniture Alliance, is certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) for the Office Furniture Industry in the State of Tennessee and is a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). Her entrepreneurial spirit has been the driving force in growing CFA from a small single location in 1994 to five offices strong across the State of Tennessee.
In the Late 1990’s, Danez’s strategic vision and tenacity equipped her to identify a large void for Tennessee’s higher education institutions regarding purchasing leverage for furniture. As a result, she created a process for forming purchasing contracts for several organizations, such as the Tennessee Board of regents (TBR), Tennessee Independent College and Universities Association (TICUA) and the University of Tennessee (UT). These contracts were to be later replicated by several other institutions in Tennessee and remain strong and intact today.
With an impressive 39 years in the construction, interior design, and furniture industries, Danez’s breadth of experience has readied her to oversee CFA’s sales, marketing, and design teams. She is a master at determining how to positively channel each individual member’s skills, strengths and experience to create the best outcomes for their customers.
Danez has a strong personal conviction to serve and strengthen those around her. Her “servant leadership” style supports her active involvement in several community organizations and non profits where she pursues the same excellence for them as she does in her own company.
CFA has Interior Designers that are licensed in the state of Tennessee and well-versed in a wide variety of computer aided software. The designer brings the client’s vision to life by creating visual presentations in 2D and 3D, as well as colored renderings, sections, and bird’s eye views.
Their vast product knowledge equips them to find the most creative solutions for furniture layouts, product specifications, work adjacencies, storage needs, wayfinding, site furnishings, and more.
CFA implements a team strategy whereby an Account Manager and Interior Designer always work together, regardless of project size.
The Account Manager takes the lead and is the first interaction with the client to determine scope of work, project goals, time frames for completion, and budget. The Interior Designer, who also attends client meetings, then balances programming information with the best function, aesthetic, and code adherence. All CFA designers are well-versed in a variety of computer software that creates visual presentation styles that best fit the project.
Effective communication is the key to the success of the team and is an essential component for meeting deadlines.
CFA’s Account Manager and Interior Designers work closely with our manufacturer partners on a daily basis to ensure client goals are met with prompt vigor. Our alliance partners support us in a variety of ways including product samples and mock-ups, specifications, customs and modifications, CAD drawings, colored renderings, and product legends packages.
CFA has created a niche in the higher education furniture market, but a college campus is really like a small city in that crosses over into several other markets.
On any given campus you will find Health Clinics, Banking, Food Service, Hospitality, and Religious centers as well as Corporate settings of private offices, meeting spaces, and public areas.
CFA partners with 134 of the industry’s leading manufacturers to ensure we can provide furniture, related services and architectural products for all of these market segments, not just for college campuses, but for corporate America as well.
Director of Design, University of Tennessee