Martin Keen is an entrepreneurial leader in industrial design and brand building, and an innovator of manufacturing technologies. His design career spans more than two decades focused on two distinct and crowded product categories: footwear and furniture. He is the founder and visionary force behind KEEN Footwear and Focal Upright. Martin entered footwear first in 1989, then furniture in 2012, and made huge waves in both by questioning the status quo. Martin created entirely new categories within each industry, forcing business leaders to respond. KEEN currently has annual revenues over $300M and is distributed worldwide. Together, KEEN and FocalUpright currently employ over 350 people worldwide. Martin is also a philanthropist: KEEN’s Hybrid.Care Foundation has donated over $7 million to charities worldwide, including the Conservation Alliance, Medicines Global, and the American Red Cross. In Rhode Island, Martin has actively mentored students at The Met School, volunteered as a guest art teacher in the Jamestown School District, and advised start-up entrepreneurs at Betaspring. “Cutting through constraints is the essence of innovative design, and Martin has changed the footwear industry by drilling down instead of spreading out,” said the selection committee. “You can’t do much better in terms of impact and prominence.”
