Convene’s Chief Design Officer Joyce Bromberg Resigns
By Nicholas Rizzi May 21, 2020 4:01 pm
reprints![Joyce Bromberg](https://commercialobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/05/BROMBERG_j_26_retouched.jpg?quality=80&w=340)
The chief design officer for flex meeting, event and office provider Convene, Joyce Bromberg, resigned from her post after a decade at the company, Convene announced today.
Bromberg, who was referred to as the company’s “third cofounder,” joined Convene soon after it was founded in 2009 and was responsible for leading a team that designed Convene’s locations and its workplace strategy. The resignation comes as Bromberg plans to spend more time with her family, a Convene spokesperson said.
“We are beyond grateful for Joyce’s countless contributions to Convene’s business, our product and process improvement,” Ryan Simonetti, the co-founder and CEO of Convene, said in a statement. “We wish her the best for the future.”
Bromberg came to Convene after more than 35 years focused on workplace design. She started her career at healthcare and education-focused furniture company Steelcase, eventually becoming the director of research for the group, according to her LinkedIn page.
She came out of retirement to join Convene when the company had just one location in 2009, and had a hand in workplace research that helped Convene’s product offerings, according to the company.
In a statement, Bromberg said her time with Convene was “the best part of my career and truly a privilege for me to help design great spaces, create strategies and to allow work to be about love.”
Convene was founded by Simonetti and Christopher Kelly and has raised more than $260 million since its inception. However, the flexible office and coworking market has been reeling as the coronavirus pandemic forced many companies to work remotely with Convene feeling the pain as well.
The company temporarily closed all of its 28 locations around the country in late March and laid off close to a fifth of its staff, about 150 employees, as Commercial Observer previously reported. Convene later furloughed 421 staffers that month, Bisnow reported.
Despite the struggles, Convene joined a group of nearly 15 workspace providers last month to help develop a plan for companies returning to work during the coronavirus pandemic, as CO reported.