Ken’s Blog: Women Who Mean Business

During an interview with Ace Hardware Corp. CEO John Venhuizen, it was learned that the co-op had hired an executive in charge of product innovation.

“Really?” a reporter asked. “I’d like to see all the cool stuff in his office.”

Oops.

The name of the executive in question is Maya Schultz, and she is the co-op’s new product innovation lead.

I should have known better than to assume an executive’s gender, especially because our team is already working on a special report to appear in the June issue of HBSDealer: “Women Who Mean Business.”

There are no statistics readily available; only anecdotal observations and executive photos (largely of men in suits) in the back pages of annual reports. But few will argue that the hardware and building supply industry gets lower than average marks for diversity. That’s not for a lack of role models. Maggie Hardy Magerko is pushing the envelope at 84 Lumber. Jennifer Scanlon sits in the top spot at blue blood building product giant USG. And around the country, women who mean business are visible leaders in stores and lumberyards.

We’ve asked several of them for advice to women starting out, and we’ve already received several great answers.

Cally Fromme is VP of business development for Kodiak Building Partners. And she’s also a former chairman of the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association. “Keep your eyes and ears open, and you will learn something every day. Keep a sense of humor, and always, always take the high road.”

Jean Niemi is True Value’s VP of communications, who previously held an executive post at the world’s largest home improvement retailer. “I’ve had a front row seat, both at Home Depot and True Value, to see women make their dreams a reality as they opened their own stores or moved up in the executive ranks. My advice to women who are starting out in the hardware and building supply industry is that you have to believe everything is possible. There are no limits.”

Gina Schaefer is owner and chief localist at A Few Cool Hardware Stores in and around the nation’s capital: “Do not approach the building supply industry any differently than you would any other industry. Businesses need well-rounded leaders who understand people and number management as much as product knowledge.”

And here’s advice from Schultz: “Be an agile learner. New experiences bring challenges and the greatest learning opportunities. You will experience successes and failures. What matters is how you apply those lessons learned to future situations.”

To learn more about what’s on her desk, click here.