At MiEN Company, creating innovative, functional, and flexible furniture solutions for evolving learning environments is central to our mission. We are fortunate to have a team of dedicated individuals who work hard every day to position MiEN as a leader in learning space design and innovation.

Today, we’re highlighting Steve Norton, MiEN’s regional account manager overseeing all of California and Nevada. Steve is passionate about sustainability and developing future-ready learning environments, and he has been a valuable member of the MiEN team since October 2024.

Steve attended high school in Michigan, then studied business at a community college for two years before joining the local workforce. He began his career in this industry working at MiEN in the early days when there were just three employees on our team. Steve then moved to Northern California and worked for ten years at a dealership in the Bay Area before returning back to MiEN where his story in the furniture industry began.

One thing Steve loves about MiEN products is all the different ways they can help improve engagement, accessibility, and sustainability in learning environments and other spaces. He admires the GROW Series for its eye-popping design and its ability to truly engage the user. Plus, he appreciates that it was designed with neurodiverse scholars in mind, which he believes to be essential in today’s educational landscape.

Additionally, Steve is excited about MiEN’s new Gecko Green Early Elementary Multi-Purpose Tables. He likes how much these mobile, ADA compliant tables promote social connectivity, collaboration, creativity and flexibility within learning spaces.

“In today’s remote and screen-focused world, interpersonal connectivity is more important than it’s ever been – especially when it comes to our young scholars,” Steve said. “Most of us never had anything like a Gecko Table in the learning spaces we grew up in”. Steve also appreciates how the Gecko Green line of furniture represents MiEN’s commitment to sustainability and our ongoing pursuit of more environmentally-friendly furniture solutions for learning environments. He believes that designing educational spaces with this at the forefront can even provide an opportunity to teach eco-friendly practices to young learners. “When we bring sustainability into the classroom, we have the ability to teach incoming generations about sustainable practices”

Steve says he’s lucky to work with a team of designers at MiEN that truly understand modern pedagogy. His team is always thinking about the next generation of scholars and designing with the future in mind. Steve believes that when it comes to learning environments, the upcoming generations deserve much better than what we all grew up with. He is inspired by the ways MiEN creates innovative solutions to meet the needs of the ever-changing educational landscape and prepare students for the world that they will enter upon graduation.

When he isn’t working, Steve is a diehard Detroit sports fan, keeping up closely with the Detroit Lions and Detroit Red Wings. Beyond that, he’s a film and television enthusiast and loves to explore any and all genres of music, attending concerts spanning electronic music, to heavy metal, to hip hop, and beyond.

Steve and his fiancée are highly competitive pickleball athletes who participate in various tournament circuits around California, including winning a Golden Ticket that qualified them for the USAPB National Championships in 2024. When they’re not on the court, they enjoy venturing around California to their favorite food spots, breweries, and trying new and unique activities.

Steve Norton’s commitment to designing engaging and sustainable learning environments for the future makes him a valuable member of the MiEN family. We feel privileged to have him on our team, and we look forward to the ongoing positive impact he will contribute to our clients and projects in the future.