Brian Knies, President/Owner Tile America (aka Tile King of Connecticut)

Becoming the "Tile King of Connecticut" doesn't happen overnight.  One has to be born into it.  At 12 years old, my father had me gluing up tile sample boards.  At 14, I was driving a forklift and doing inventory.  At 16, making deliveries.  At 18, I was working for a tile installer.  After college, I was in corporate finance for a few years and then I moved into the family business.  The rest is history.

I have three children who are 29, 26, and 22.  (B,B,G)  They are scattered around the country in Austin, Chicago, and San Diego.  I hope they all move back to CT someday, but not into my house.  Then, of course, there is my incredible wife of 32 years, Louise (the Tile Queen of CT), who, to quote Jack Nicholson, makes me want to be a better man. 

Tile America is an importer, distributor, wholesaler, and retailer of tile and stone.  We supply both the residential and commercial markets. We have seven locations in CT with inspiring showrooms and professional design consultants.  I am also a partner in Best Tile, which has stores along the East Coast of the US.  At Tile America, we just celebrated 60 years in business.

I focus a lot on culture, so we do a lot of employee engagement activities.  Recently, we turned our warehouse into a high school gym and had an all-employee Pep Rally to celebrate our wins and launch our 2025 strategy.  Every year culminates with our famous holiday party and branch video competition.   Last year's theme was to take a famous movie scene and recreate it incorporating tile.  Click here to see my Leadership Team's Austin Powers submission: Tiles Are Forever.  Our strong culture leads to low turnover and high productivity, making it easy to find quality employees. 

Memorable YPO experience.

When we first joined YPO and I became Learning Officer around 2006, Louise and I went to the GLC (now The Edge) in Capetown.  We toured Johannesburg and went on safari with a great group of YPOers before the GLC.  We then traveled to Capetown for the GLC, which was the most impressive event we had ever attended.  It is still considered one of the top YPO events ever.  I could go on and on about it, but that's where we got hooked on YPO for good!

Final Note:  If anyone is in need of tile for residential or commercial spaces, please contact me so I may set up an appointment for you with one of our design consultants and extend you the YPO CRV special pricing!