The Global President and CEO of the National Kitchen & Bath Association is recognized for spending nearly two decades turning a traditional trade group into an international platform for the $235 billion kitchen and bath industry, for merging its flagship trade show with the country’s largest home building event, and for building the labor pipelines the industry now depends on to train its next generation of tradespeople.
HG HomeClub has named Bill Darcy, Global President and CEO of the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) and the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS), to its list of the 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living.
The list, published by HG HomeClub, recognizes 25 leaders who are shaping these three industries in the right way. It spans manufacturing, distribution, retail, technology, franchising, contracting, media, capital and the associations that convene the trades. It is presented alphabetically and carries no numerical ranking, because the leaders on it exercise influence in fundamentally different ways, and comparing a keynote stage to a distribution network, or a franchise system to a product platform, would flatten what makes each of them consequential.
Darcy earns his place on it as the leader entrusted with speaking for an entire vertical of the housing industry. NKBA represents manufacturers, designers, retailers, builders, remodelers and architects across all segments of home design, with a focus on kitchen and bath, in an industry the association’s own research projects will generate $235 billion in revenue in 2025. Under his leadership, NKBA’s flagship trade show has grown into one of the world’s largest, most comprehensive industry trade events.
Those are the numbers. The story, as Darcy tells it, is that his career path went “from tires to tiles.”
What Did Bill Darcy Do Before He Ever Worked in Kitchen and Bath?
Before joining NKBA, Darcy spent seven years with Penske Motorsports and NASCAR, where he managed a speedway and led a staff that oversaw more than 50 multi-venue sponsors with contracts totaling more than $200 million in annual sponsorship, working with brands including The Home Depot, AT&T, Motorola, Pfizer, UPS and Pepsi. “My path is a bit unusual in that I went from focusing on tires to tiles,” Darcy has said of the transition. He holds a B.A. in management from Moravian University.
How Did Bill Darcy Climb From an Entry-Level Marketing Job to Global CEO?
Darcy joined NKBA in 2006 as Manager of Marketing Partnerships, and moved through Manager of Business Development, where he generated more than $1 million in non-dues revenue for the association, Senior Manager of Marketing, and Director of Marketing, before being named Executive Vice President in April 2011. Less than a year later, on March 20, 2012, NKBA named Darcy CEO, a promotion that came alongside news that association membership had grown from nearly 40,000 to more than 50,000 members. NKBA marked his 10th anniversary as CEO in 2022, the same year the association relocated its headquarters to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
“I am sure when I first joined there were questions about what a ‘car guy’ was going to do for the bath and kitchen industry,” Darcy has said. “But I believe business is business, and if you put passion and energy behind hard work, you can succeed at whatever you’re doing.” Darcy has attributed much of NKBA’s growth under his tenure to “bringing a for-profit business mentality to a non-profit organization.”
Why Did Bill Darcy Merge KBIS With the Country’s Biggest Home Building Show?
The defining structural move of Darcy’s tenure came in 2013, when NKBA and the National Association of Home Builders announced an agreement to co-locate KBIS with NAHB’s International Builders’ Show (IBS) under a shared banner, Design & Construction Week, beginning with the first combined event in Las Vegas in 2014. The partnership has since become the largest annual gathering of residential construction and design industry professionals, and in February 2024, Darcy announced its extension through 2030, alongside KBIS’s 60th anniversary. “We’ve had great success collaborating with NAHB and IBS and are proud to announce our continued partnership as part of this milestone year,” Darcy said of the extension.
Darcy has also pushed NKBA’s reach beyond U.S. borders, launching NKBA Global Connect in 2020 to connect international kitchen and bath manufacturers with domestic design professionals, a program that has since grown to feature international pavilions from the U.K., Brazil, Italy and Turkey at KBIS.
How Is NKBA Trying to Solve the Trades’ Labor Shortage?
Darcy has been outspoken about the skilled labor shortage facing the kitchen and bath industry, citing research showing that 58 percent of kitchen and bath businesses can no longer find the skilled workers they need, up from 41 percent five years earlier. “We need to do a better job of making young people aware of the exciting opportunities that are available in the skilled trades,” Darcy has said.
In response, Darcy created NKBA’s #NextUp initiative to build student awareness of skilled-trades careers in design, construction and manufacturing, and sits on the Operating Committee of the Skilled Labor Fund, part of the National Housing Endowment, alongside representatives of NAHB and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). NKBA has also co-sponsored This Old House Ventures’ Generation Next program and the ACE Mentor Program to steer students toward vocational careers in the field.
What Has Bill Darcy Built to Support NKBA’s Own Members?
Beyond workforce development for the broader industry, Darcy has overseen initiatives aimed at NKBA’s own membership base. He established the NKBA’s 30 Under 30 program in 2013, recognizing young professionals in the kitchen and bath trade, and supports NKBA Women2Women, the association’s female leadership mentoring and network-building framework. Under his leadership, NKBA has also earned Great Place to Work Certification for four consecutive years as of its 2023-2024 survey cycle, with roughly 85 percent of NKBA employees describing the association as a great place to work, compared with a 57 percent average at a typical company.
What Recognition Has Bill Darcy Received?
In 2024, the Philadelphia Business Journal named Darcy to its list of “Most Admired CEOs”, citing his work guiding NKBA through the COVID-19 pandemic, modernizing the association for remote work, and orchestrating its 2022 headquarters move to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. “I am so proud to lead this remarkable organization and of all that our team accomplishes on a daily basis. I’m truly humbled by this prestigious honor,” Darcy said of the recognition.
Why Does Bill Darcy Belong Among the 25 Most Influential Leaders in These Industries?
Influence in these industries takes several forms. Some leaders influence through a keynote stage or a book. Some through a franchise system that creates business owners. Some through a distribution network, a software platform, or the price of a pallet.
Bill Darcy influences through convening power. He does not manufacture cabinetry or install countertops; he built the institution that connects the manufacturers, designers, retailers, builders and remodelers who do. Merging KBIS with the nation’s largest home building show, extending that partnership through 2030, and building the labor pipelines an entire trade now leans on to train its next generation are exactly the kind of structural, industry-wide influence this list was created to recognize.
About HG HomeClub
HG HomeClub is a national media platform serving the home improvement, home services and outdoor living industries. Created to champion media back to its original purpose of informed transparency, HG HomeClub curates the top stories, headlines, rankings, videos, podcasts, webinars, events and professional recommendations across the industry and presents them in one consolidated, easily consumable destination, helping both homeowners and professionals make better-informed decisions. More information is available at hghomeclub.com.
About NKBA | KBIS
The National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA), founded in 1963 and headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is a not-for-profit trade association representing manufacturers, designers, retailers, builders, remodelers and architects across all segments of home design, with a focus on kitchen and bath, in an industry projected to generate $235 billion in revenue in 2025. NKBA owns the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS), one of the world’s largest, most comprehensive industry trade events, co-located with the National Association of Home Builders’ International Builders’ Show as part of Design & Construction Week through at least 2030. More information is available at nkba.org.
The 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living
Presented alphabetically. There is no numerical ranking; each leader is recognized for influence exercised in a distinct way.
- Doug Black — Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SiteOne Landscape Supply (Outdoor living)
- AJ Brown — Co-Chief Executive Officer, Apex Service Partners (Platforms)
- Paul Burleson — Senior Account Executive, Westlake Royal Building Products (Home improvement)
- Jenilee Common — Chief Executive Officer, Leaf Home and Erie Home (Home improvement)
- Greg Cummings — Chief Executive Officer, Power100 (Media)
- Bill Darcy — Global President and Chief Executive Officer, NKBA and KBIS (Associations)
- Mike Davis — Chief Executive Officer, Neighborly (Franchising)
- Ted Decker — Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Home Depot (Retail)
- Marvin R. Ellison — Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Lowe’s (Retail)
- Aaron Erter — Chief Executive Officer, James Hardie (Manufacturing)
- Daniel Gluck — Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Renuity (Home improvement)
- Ken Goodrich — Chairman; Founder, Goettl; The Goodrich Organization (Home services)
- Brian Gottlieb — Best-Selling Author and Speaker, Beyond the Hammer (Speaking and authorship)
- Maggie Hardy — Owner, President and Chief Executive Officer, 84 Lumber (Distribution)
- Brad Jacobs — Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, QXO (Distribution)
- Kurt Kane — President and Chief Executive Officer, TruGreen (Outdoor living)
- Ara Mahdessian — Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, ServiceTitan (Technology)
- Matt Malone — Founder and Executive Chairman, Groundworks (Home services)
- Tommy Mello — Founder and Chief Executive Officer, A1 Garage Door Service (Home services)
- Heidi G. Petz — Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sherwin-Williams (Manufacturing)
- Asher Raphael — Co-Chief Executive Officer, Power Home Remodeling (Home improvement)
- Dave Regnery — Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Trane Technologies (Manufacturing)
- Marcus Sheridan — Founder, Marcus Sheridan International (Speaking and authorship)
- Dan Tinker — President and Chief Executive Officer, SRS Distribution (Distribution)
- James W. Tobin III — President and Chief Executive Officer, National Association of Home Builders (Associations)
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is HG HomeClub, and what is this list?
HG HomeClub is a national media platform serving the home improvement, home services, and outdoor living industries. It was created to return media to its original purpose of informed transparency, curating the industry’s top stories, headlines, rankings, videos, podcasts, webinars, events and professional recommendations in one place for both homeowners and professionals. The 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living is one of HG HomeClub’s editorial rankings, recognizing the people shaping these industries in the right way across manufacturing, distribution, retail, technology, franchising, contracting, media, capital and the associations that convene the trades.
- Is the list ranked from one to 25?
No. The list is presented alphabetically and carries no numerical order. The leaders recognized exercise influence in genuinely different ways, through enterprise scale, growth, product innovation, franchising, capital, authorship, keynote stages, advocacy and media, and HG HomeClub declined to impose a hierarchy on work that is not comparable. Every leader on the list is recognized equally.
- Who is Bill Darcy?
Bill Darcy is Global President and CEO of the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) and the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS). He joined NKBA in 2006 as Manager of Marketing Partnerships after seven years in sports marketing with Penske Motorsports and NASCAR, rose through several roles including Executive Vice President, and became CEO in March 2012. He holds a B.A. in management from Moravian University.
- Why was Bill Darcy selected for this list?
Because he has spent nearly two decades transforming NKBA from a traditional trade group into an international platform representing the $235 billion kitchen and bath industry, orchestrated the merger of KBIS with NAHB’s International Builders’ Show into Design & Construction Week and extended that partnership through 2030, and built industry-wide initiatives to address the skilled labor shortage facing the trades.
- What is Design & Construction Week?
Design & Construction Week is the shared banner under which NKBA’s Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) and NAHB’s International Builders’ Show (IBS) have been co-located since 2014, an agreement Darcy helped orchestrate in 2013. The combined event has become the largest annual gathering of residential construction and design industry professionals in the United States, and the partnership has been extended multiple times, most recently through 2030.
- What is NKBA’s #NextUp initiative?
#NextUp is an initiative Darcy created within NKBA to introduce students to skilled trades and craftsman career paths, addressing the industry-wide labor shortage in design, construction and manufacturing. Darcy also sits on the Operating Committee of the Skilled Labor Fund, part of the National Housing Endowment, alongside NAHB and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.
- How large is the kitchen and bath industry that NKBA represents?
NKBA’s own research projects the U.S. kitchen and bath industry will generate approximately $235 billion in revenue in 2025, spanning both remodeling and new residential construction spending on kitchens and baths.
- What recognition has Bill Darcy received?
In 2024, the Philadelphia Business Journal named Darcy to its list of “Most Admired CEOs,” citing his leadership guiding NKBA through the COVID-19 pandemic, modernizing the association for remote work, and orchestrating its 2022 headquarters relocation to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Under his leadership, NKBA has also earned Great Place to Work Certification for four consecutive years as of its 2023-2024 survey cycle.
- What other programs has Bill Darcy established at NKBA?
Darcy established NKBA’s 30 Under 30 program in 2013, recognizing young professionals in the kitchen and bath trade, and launched NKBA Global Connect in 2020 to connect international kitchen and bath manufacturers with domestic design professionals. He also supports NKBA Women2Women, the association’s female leadership mentoring and network-building framework.
