Systemcenter President Stephan Edwards Named a 2026 Most Admired Leader

We spend a lot of time at Systemcenter talking about what makes a great workplace. The spaces people work in matter, but we also know that furniture and design are only part of the equation. A great workplace starts with the people who lead it.
That’s why we’re especially proud to celebrate Systemcenter President Stephan Edwards, who was named one of Pacific Business News’ 2026 Most Admired Leaders.

Pacific Business News’ Most Admired Leaders awards recognize executives whose leadership and contributions have made an impact within their organizations and throughout Hawaiʻi’s business community. For those of us who work alongside Stephan every day, it’s easy to understand why this recognition is so well deserved.

Leadership You Can See Every Day

Stephan’s approach to leadership has never been about hierarchy or titles. His door is open to everyone, and there really isn’t a part of the business he considers outside of his job description.

On any given day, that might mean working through a strategy with the leadership team, helping solve an issue on a project or heading out into the field to lend a hand on an installation. Having grown up in the business and worked his way through nearly every aspect of it, Stephan understands what it takes to get the job done — and he isn’t afraid to jump in and help wherever he is needed.
That willingness to work alongside the team is a big part of what makes his leadership different. He makes himself available, listens to ideas from every level of the company and has built a culture where people are encouraged to speak up, contribute and take ownership of their work.

More than anything, Stephan leads by example.

One of the things he consistently reminds our team is that business doesn’t need to be overly complicated: be a good person and do the right thing.

That simple philosophy has shaped how Systemcenter works with our customers, our partners and one another.

Great Workplaces Start With Good Leadership

As a company that helps organizations create workplaces for their own people, we believe we have a responsibility to think just as intentionally about the workplace we create for ours.

A healthy workplace isn’t created by furniture alone. It comes from trust, communication, accountability, respect and leaders who are willing to listen and work alongside their teams.

For us, those values start at the top.

Stephan’s approachable leadership style has helped create a culture where people at every level of the company have access to leadership, where ideas can come from anywhere and where solving problems together is simply part of how we work.

That culture ultimately influences the work we do for our clients. When we speak with organizations about creating workplaces where people can do their best work, we understand that the physical environment is only one piece of something much bigger. The best workplaces support the people inside them and the leadership behind them matters.

Turning Problems Into Better Ways of Working

That instinct to jump in and solve problems extends beyond Stephan’s role at Systemcenter.

After years of working in a project-based business, Stephan saw firsthand that many of the software systems available weren’t built around the realities of managing complex projects from beginning to end. Commercial furniture dealerships like Systemcenter have to connect sales, design, procurement, project management, logistics, installation and service while keeping both internal teams and clients informed along the way.

Rather than continuing to work around systems that didn’t quite fit, Stephan set out to build something that did.

He founded Marketplace Software around many of the challenges our own team was trying to solve every day: creating a more seamless workflow, improving visibility across departments and giving clients greater transparency throughout the life of a project.

While its roots are in the commercial furniture industry and the platform continues to support furniture dealerships across the country, Marketplace Software was built around the needs of project-based businesses more broadly. Its applications extend beyond commercial furniture to other industries managing complex projects, teams, timelines and client relationships.

It’s a good example of how Stephan approaches leadership: understand the problem at the ground level, find a better way to solve it and, when possible, create something that can help others solve it too.

Advocating for Businesses in Hawaiʻi

Stephan’s leadership also extends beyond Systemcenter through his role as President of the Hawaiian Islands Freight Association (HIFA).

For a Hawaiʻi-based company like Systemcenter, freight isn’t a small operational detail. Everything we provide our clients has to cross the Pacific, making reliable and competitively priced shipping essential to our business and to countless other companies throughout the state.

HIFA is a nonprofit organization that brings Hawaiʻi businesses together to help its members access competitive freight rates and shipping services. For local businesses that depend on bringing goods to the islands, that collective effort can have a meaningful impact.

Stephan’s involvement with HIFA reflects an understanding that some business challenges are bigger than any one company. By contributing his time and experience to the organization, he is helping support not only Systemcenter, but other Hawaiʻi businesses facing many of the same logistical realities.

It’s another example of a leadership philosophy that extends beyond his own organization: when there is a problem worth solving, get involved.

Continuing a Family Legacy

Systemcenter was founded in Hawaiʻi in 1976 by Stephan’s parents, Bill and Joyce Edwards. Stephan grew up around the family business and eventually took on its leadership, helping expand the company beyond its original footprint while maintaining the values on which it was built.

Today, Systemcenter supports projects across Hawaiʻi, Alaska and throughout the Pacific, but the philosophy behind the company remains remarkably simple: take care of people, do good work and be someone others can trust.

Nearly 50 years after Systemcenter began, those values continue to guide how we work with our customers, our partners and one another.

Congratulations, Stephan

Awards like this give us an opportunity to recognize something our team gets to experience every day.

We see Stephan jumping into problems, asking questions, listening to ideas, challenging us to find better ways of doing things and reminding us that doing the right thing matters. His leadership has helped shape not only the company Systemcenter has become, but the kind of workplace we want to continue building.

So while we’re incredibly proud to see Stephan recognized among Pacific Business News’ 2026 Most Admired Leaders, we’re even more grateful for the leadership behind the recognition.

Congratulations, Stephan. This one is well deserved.

Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/c/most-admired-leaders-2026/47812/most-admired-leaders-2026-stephan-edwards.html