Ace names a winning retailer

Ace Hardware has announced the winner of the 2015 Ace All-Star Retailer Award: Dan Olson, owner of two Ace stores in Illinois.

The annual All-Star Retailer award recognizes one outstanding Ace member each year for his or her efforts to support Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

Olson was nominated by his local Children's Miracle Network hospital, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.

He is the owner of two Ace stores in Franklin Park and Waukegan, Illinois, the chairman of the Chicago Retailer Fundraising Committee, and he is credited for the Chicagoland Ace stores' success in raising a record-breaking $211,000 in 2014 for Lurie Children’s. The stores are on track to break that amount in 2015.

“The Ace Hardware Foundation is thrilled to honor retailer Dan Olson as the 2015 Ace All-Star Retailer,” said Jimmy Alexander, Ace’s senior VP customer care and president of the Ace Hardware Foundation. “Dan has been a driving force for fundraising for CMN Hospitals, not only locally in Chicago, but across the country as well. His leadership and passion for giving back are a true inspiration, and we are extremely thankful to have him supporting the mission of the Ace Foundation.”

The award was presented at the general session of the 2015 Ace Hardware fall convention in Chicago.

“It is a true honor and privilege to receive such a prestigious recognition from the Ace Hardware Foundation,” said Dan Olson, owner of Olson’s Ace Hardware. “Working collectively with other local Chicago Ace Hardware owners to raise funds for Lurie Children’s has been such a rewarding experience, and together, we’ve demonstrated Ace’s commitment to serving our neighbors, both in our stores and in our local communities.”