Louise Allen is the fourth generation of her family to lead the 108 year old office furniture and workspace solutions company.  She succeeds her great-grandfather and company founder, Ivan Allen, Sr., her grandfather, the late mayor Ivan Allen, Jr., her uncle, the late Ivan Allen III and her father, H. Inman Allen. 
 
Atlanta born and educated in The Westminster Schools, Louise began her business career in California.  After graduating from college she enjoyed a “vacation” skiing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, followed by time at Goldman Sachs in San Francisco.  Her real passion for business developed when she joined an internet company in the mid 90’s.   There she undertook a project to develop a Webcast that provided earnings information for publicly traded companies.  When they sold the company five years, Louise headed to New York where she joined Thompson Financial, a leader in providing e-information and integrated work solutions to the worldwide financial communities.  While at Thompson she started 3 business units for them and upon being offered a promotion to move to Boston, she chose to head back to her roots in the South.

 After many conversations and meetings with her father, Inman Allen, then chairman of Ivan Allen Workspace, Louise was asked to take over the daily operations of the company in May of 2005.  As CEO, she became the first woman in the Allen family to assume this position and has already led the company with courage and a passionate dedication toward providing her customers with extraordinary service. 

Just as does the company, Atlanta’s business and civic organizations benefit from Louise’s commitment and energy as well.  She is on the Board of Advisors for the Atlanta Metro Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta Women’s Magazine, Georgia Tech College of Computing and the Carter Center.  Louise is active in Central Atlanta Progress and is currently working with the Woodruff Arts Center Annual Corporate Campaign and The Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta’s Capital Campaign. 

In her time away from Ivan Allen Workspace, she pursues her love for the outdoors, proudly supports Ducks Unlimited, attends yoga classes as often as possible and has a passion for cooking.