About Sallie Rowland

Sallie Rowland graduated from Indiana University in 1954 with a degree in business and a minor in design. She spent about 10 years developing a design department for Business Furniture Corporation, located in Indianapolis, leaving with the rank of vice president. In 1968 she co-founded Rowland Associates.

Rowland became CEO of Rowland Design in 1975. Rowland Design developed into the largest commercial design firm in Indianapolis and one of the top one hundred commercial interior design firms in North America. She retired from Rowland Design in 2003.

As a civic leader, Rowland served on the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission for eight years (1977–84). In 1979, she became the first woman to be president of the commission. Rowland was also the first woman on the executive committee of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce (1986), the first woman to receive the Indianapolis Business Journal’s Enterprise Award (1992), the first woman to be president of the Economic Club of Indianapolis (1993), and the first woman to chair the campaign of the United Way of Central Indiana. Rowland has been a member of the boards of directors for Indiana Landmarks, Indiana National Bank, Meridian Mutual Insurance, and Indianapolis Power and Light.