MillerKnoll CEO Andi Owen Is Worth Millions, Faces Heat for Cutting Employee Bonuses

The CEO of furniture company MillerKnoll is in the hot seat on April 18, 2023, after her Zoom call message to employees went viral on social media. In the video circulating on TikTok and Twitter, MillerKnoll CEO Andi Owen basically tells employees to stop having a pity party about their bonuses being cut and to focus on reaching the company's $26 million goal.

“Don’t ask about what are we going to do if you don’t get a bonus. Get the damn $26 million,” Owen says in the video. “Spend your time and your effort thinking about the $26 million we need and not thinking about what you’re gonna do if we don’t get a bonus.”

Many people on Twitter are pointing out the irony of Owen’s remarks that employees not stay in "Pity City” about their bonuses while she herself has a net worth in the millions. Keep reading for all the details on her net worth.

As the MillerKnoll CEO, Owen earned a total compensation of $5 million in 2022, according to Salary.com. Her base salary alone was over $1.08 million. She also received a bonus of almost $1.3 million, plus $866,971 in stock options, $1.4 million in stock, and $335,634 in other types of compensation.

Meanwhile, the median pay for employees at MillerKnoll, which makes the Herman Miller office chairs, is about $44,810, Salary.com reports. That means Owen’s salary is 111 times more than many of the company’s 11,000 employees.

Owen has been the president and CEO of MillerKnoll since 2021. She was the president and CEO of Herman Miller between August 2018 and July 2021. She was instrumental in putting together the deal that brought Herman Miller together with Knoll to create MillerKnoll, according to her bio on the MillerKnoll website.

Owen studied art at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, where she first learned about Herman Miller designs, The New York Times reports. She received her bachelor’s degree in art history from the College of William and Mary, after which she got a job at the Gap. Owen worked for over 13 years at Gap Inc. and Banana Republic in various executive positions before joining Herman Miller in 2018.

Unlike many corporate CEOs, Owen didn't have an MBA when she started working as a top executive, but she eventually earned an executive MBA from Harvard University.

Owen’s wealth has grown in the over 25 years she has been a corporate executive. In 2017, she was listed as one of the World’s Most Powerful Women by Fortune magazine.

Owen is catching a lot of criticism about her comments in the Zoom call, which was addressed to employees but has since gone viral on social media.

“I don’t think this is a good answer or a good way to behave as a CEO,” tweeted @VitruviusGrind.

“‘Now get back to work, peasants!’ She is gross. I would rather build an entire community in Pity City than work for this malignant narcissist,” tweeted @cynmdmi.

“I hope your team is all able to take a trip to pity city and find new positions out of the reach of this nasty piece of work,” tweeted @lynngotts.