People of the Year: Maggie Hardy Magerko

The second annual HBSDealer People of the Year list includes some heavy hitters in the home improvement industry. These are executives who have displayed outside-the-box thinking, along with stick-to-your-guns discipline. They are the leaders of billion-dollar corporations, as well as family businesses. They are guiding huge mergers, and huge acts of charity.

In the next several issues of the HBSDealer Daily, we'll meet all of HBSDealer's People of the Year. 

Standing on the precipice of 2016 with expansion plans up ahead, it might be easy to forget that Maggie Hardy Magerko was ignoring everyone’s advice to file for bankruptcy just a few years ago.

At peak recession, Magerko was making some of the toughest calls she’s had to make since taking over for her father in 1992: closing down half of 84 Lumber’s locations, laying off the majority of its employees, selling off company real estate, and investing in new product and service offerings.

Now, 84 Lumber is looking forward to a year of growth, with at least 10 new locations in the works, as well as an expansion of its manufacturing programs for custom doors, engineered wood products, custom millwork and components. The company also reopened four stores over the past two years in markets with improving housing starts.

Not to be robbed of the spotlight, however, Magerko also made waves in 2015 for her success as a female business owner. In September, 84 Lumber Company was designated a Female Business Enterprise in Cleveland, making it eligible to be a supplier for government-funded projects in the city. The Cleveland designation joins 84 Lumber’s existing certifications as a women-owned business in several other states and counties.