Taking Over an Iconic Company
Philip Hussey ’14 will help lead Thos. Moser furniture makers into their next chapter
Thos. Moser’s renowned craftsmanship and unique Maine origin story have made the wood furniture company a household name. Built on the founding vision of Thomas and Mary Moser in 1972 and now headquartered in Auburn, the company’s more than 60 craftsworkers produce over 10,000 pieces annually, all of them handmade.
In January, Thos. Moser marked the next chapter of its story, focused on the outward expansion of its already iconic footprint, when it was acquired by Chenmark, a family-owned, Maine-based company that operates small businesses. This transition saw the passing of Thos. Moser’s leadership to Philip Hussey ’14, who, over the last few months, has stepped into the CEO role with pride, more than a bit of awe, and a commitment to driving forward the company’s continued growth, recognition, and entirely unique ethos.
“It’s incredibly exciting,” Hussey said. “It’s not at all lost on me what an iconic brand this is. I’m equally excited and intimidated. What Tom Moser founded and led is extraordinary, and with this role comes the expectation of being a good steward of everything he’s built.”
One family business to another
Hussey is a member of the family behind the Maine business Hussey Seating Co., which produces stadium seating from its headquarters in North Berwick. Hussey Seating distributes seats across the country and in various high schools in Maine and at Colby. One might view the production of stadium seating as the polar opposite of fine furniture-making. Yet, “my experience growing up in close proximity to Hussey Seating Company instilled in me an appreciation for Maine businesses and the Maine community,” Hussey said. “The broader family is the whole team, and everyone is treated like family.”
Growing up in Kennebunk, Hussey became familiar with Thos. Moser early on in his life. “My first memory of the brand was at a retirement party when I was a kid. Someone had been gifted a Thos. Moser rocking chair,” he said.
In an age of fast production, Thos. Moser has built its brand on a promise of sustainability, exceptional design, and pieces made by hand from wood, some of which is harvested within a few hundred miles of the company’s 90,000-square-foot factory. Thos. Moser also sources cherry from the Allegany region of New York and walnut from the Missouri River Banks. In essence, the pieces themselves are works of art, created at the intersection of function, sustainability, and aesthetic. A self-taught woodworker, the late Thomas Moser, who died this past winter at age 90, drew inspiration from American 19th-century rural cabinetmakers, including the Shakers. As a result, the pieces forego contemporary design trends for clean lines and simple elegance. One could readily classify Thos. Moser pieces as timeless.
Thos. Moser’s market is increasingly global, but the company is as intertwined with Maine as it could be. Thomas Moser, the company’s founder, longtime CEO, and a woodworker himself, left his position as a professor at Bates College more than five decades ago to start a furniture company that would come to produce finely crafted pieces on display far and wide, from showrooms in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Boston, and Freeport to the White House, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, the Henry Ford Museum, and the New York Public Library.
The Colby influence
That Thos. Moser was founded, is headquartered, and employs craftsworkers in Maine is a defining part of the company’s identity, particularly as it looks to continue growing nationally and globally while remaining grounded at home. Hussey understands this well and brings his own experience with his family’s Maine business with him as he begins his journey leading Thos. Moser.
And while Hussey has been aware of the iconic furniture company and the family that created it for most of his life, suffice it to say that ultimately leading the business wasn’t always on his bingo card.
Hussey describes his Colby experience as incredibly formative. “To this day, my best friends are my Colby friends, and I couldn’t have been happier,” he said.
The liberal arts experience at Colby was particularly important, which Hussey feels has had a significant impact on where he finds himself today. “In hindsight, my Colby education instilled in me the curiosity to keep learning,” he noted. “In my work and life now, a willingness to learn has been very helpful. Being new to Thos. Moser and the CEO role, there’s a lot I don’t know, and I need to ask questions.”
‘It’s not at all lost on me what an iconic brand this is. I’m equally excited and intimidated. What Tom Moser founded and led is extraordinary, and with this role comes the expectation of being a good steward of everything he’s built.’
Philip Hussey ’14
As a Colby student, Hussey majored in government and became active in local politics. Following an experience during his junior and senior years as a legislative aid in Augusta and as an intern in Washington, D.C., Hussey ultimately opted to pursue a different path, finding government frustrating and slow.
After Colby, Hussey moved with his college roommates to Boston, where he worked in marketing at Harvard Business School. Later, he spent time as a volunteer at a Quaker school in the West Bank. Feeling that he needed to “speak the language of business,” Hussey headed to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., for an M.B.A.. He later joined Chenmark, returning home to Maine to work and live.
Hussey has learned that Moser was fond of telling the craftspeople and staff who worked for him, “You are all Thos. Moser.” Those personal connections matter to employees, Hussey said, “but it also matters for external customers—to know and understand the people behind the company and the name.”
An opportunity for growth
Focused on day-to-day business operations rather than craftsmanship, Hussey sees his work as an opportunity to grow the business further, modernize systems to enhance the employee and customer experience and reach, and to tell the Thos. Moser story in different ways, increasing opportunity for the brand. Opening more showrooms, enhancing the company’s digital presence, and establishing contracts with institutional businesses—like colleges—are some of Hussey’s ambitions.
While Thos. Moser furniture pieces are themselves a form of art, the company’s showroom on the coast of Maine in Freeport maintains a gallery space to exhibit the work of Maine-based artists, many of whom are nationally renowned. Thos. Moser has been exhibiting fine art alongside its furniture for 40 years, a tradition that Thos. Moser began at its first showroom in Portland.
Hussey highlights this unique part of Thos. Moser’s identity as yet another reason why the business is an iconic fixture within the Maine community. A recent exhibition featured the works of Maine artists created all over the world. At the show, visitors could see the world from Freeport through the lens of Maine artists.
As Hussey works to amplify the Thos. Moser story to a wider, global audience, he knows that ultimately the Moser legacy comes down to one of fine craftsmanship, history, and community—and of Maine’s unique beauty and identity.
“My goal is to help set up Thos. Moser for the next 50 years and beyond,” he said.
