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In partnership with the National Hardware Show, the exclusive sponsor of the Top Guns Awards program and reception, the North American Hardware and Paint Association (NHPA) has chosen three exceptional retailers as Top Guns Awards honorees for 2025.
As you’ll see from the stories of these retailers—Jeff Grasty from Florida Paints, Ryan Ringer from Gold Beach Lumber Yard and Hervey Wright from Home Lumber and Supply Co.—they are not only distinguished leaders in their operations, but they are leading the channel and their communities.
Far from a glamorous start, Jeff Grasty began his career in the independent home improvement industry as a van driver for Color Wheel Paint in Melbourne, Florida. Just a few months later, he and his wife moved back to Orlando, where Grasty took a job with a Color Wheel Paint store in that area. Orlando was also home to Color Wheel’s manufacturing plant, distribution operations and corporate office.
“I realized that it was a pretty cool business with manufacturing and a lab—so much activity from bringing in raw materials all the way to the end user,” Grasty says. “I moved my way up and basically held every position you can in the paint industry, except for manufacturing.”
Color Wheel Paint sold to Consorcio Comex in 2006, and Grasty stayed on with them for
five years until the non-compete ran out and Grasty and three others—brothers Rick Strube and Don Strube Jr., whose family founded Color Wheel, and Mike Davis—started Florida Paints in 2012, which has boomed since then.
Grasty, who now serves as president, says the team did not intend to become a manufacturer when they started Florida Paints in 2012, but were approached by several former customers who were interested in that side of the business.
“Color Wheel had 50-plus years of history and people were familiar with the Strube family, so when they saw us come back into the market, it exploded,” Grasty says.
Florida Paints started with three locations in 2012 and opened a manufacturing plant in 2013. By the end of those first three years, retail stores had increased to 10 locations, and in 2016 Florida Paints acquired Scott Paint and its 17 locations on the west coast of Florida.
“At the time we were in central Florida with a few east coast locations, so it was a good fit for us to get coverage around the state quickly,” Grasty says. “Over those next two years, we had to consolidate stores and our manufacturing, basically taking two manufacturing plants and moving them into one. It was a pretty crazy two years of just integrating all those stores.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Grasty says the company grew another 40% and the current store count is up to 29 with another two or three stores being added in the coming months.
Through all the incredible growth, Florida Paints has maintained what makes it special. Grasty says the company focuses on three main areas: maintaining a family atmosphere, living out a legacy and making products Florida customers want and need.
“We believe in putting employees, team members and their families first,” Grasty says.
“Being family-owned, that family-first mentality was instilled in us from the very beginning.”
Even though Florida Paints is just over a decade old, it has over 50 years of manufacturing and selling paint behind it thanks to the legacy of Color Wheel and the Stube family’s continued involvement in Florida Paints.
“We’ve learned that our legacy gives us a distinct advantage from somebody trying to get into the paint manufacturing business for the first time,” Grasty says. “We knew the mistakes we had made and we knew the good things we had done, so it allowed us to have a great start to this company and make it the best it could be.”
With a Servant’s Heart
As president of Florida Paints and a leader in the company, Grasty strives to lead with a servant heart, founded in the company’s core values, named F.O.R.C.E. for faith, ownership, respect, communication and excellence.
“My title may say I’m president, but I work for the 200 employees we have. My job is to be a servant to them and make their jobs easier by doing what I can for them,” Grasty says. “As leaders, we have to make decisions and point the company in different directions, but then it’s really up to us to get out of the way and do what we can that allows our employees to make it happen.”
Because the company’s core values are integral to everything Florida Paints does, Grasty references them anytime he coaches, leads, counsels or corrects.
“If you reference one or multiple of our values, it’s pretty clear on what we did right or what we did wrong,” Grasty says. “Everything we do falls into one or multiple ones of those buckets.”
When it comes to inspiring and motivating his team, Grasty turns to the core value of communication.
“I believe that uncertainty can lead to paralysis. If we communicate well to our employees and customers about what’s going on good and bad in the company, it takes that fear out of it,” Grasty says.
Communication is also crucial during good times to provide motivation and share accolades. Florida Paints has a community page where employees can give shoutouts to their peers.
“If we communicate well, we can motivate people and also eliminate the paralysis that comes with people having fear around the unknown,” Grasty says. “We’re not perfect at it and the bigger we get, the more difficult it will be, but everything goes back to our values.”
As the company looks to the future, developing leaders who also embody Florida Paints’ values is crucial to continuing success. Grasty says the leadership team wears a lot of different hats, which requires them to empower their people to get tasks accomplished.
“It’s a natural process with a company of our size that people have to step up and do tasks that may be a little out of their normal scope of work,” Grasty says. “But I think we do a good job of coaching and counseling people.”
Growth as a Leader
As Grasty reflects on those leaders who have built into him, he appreciates the influence of the Stube family.
“I started with them as a van driver and worked my way up, and they have mentored me for 30 years,” Grasty says. “Even in the role I’m in now as president, I interact with them every day. I’ve been blessed to be associated with them and their family, and I am grateful for the opportunities they have given me.”
When it comes to growth as a leader in his career, along with relying on others, Grasty has focused on personal growth and learning how to be more empathetic and vulnerable as a leader.
“I’ve learned a lot about what it is to be a good human being. I didn’t have a lot of those qualities of being empathetic or being vulnerable, but as I’ve stepped into my faith and learned about myself, it’s allowed me to relate better to others,” Grasty says. “That journey of self-improvement has spilled over into my role at Florida Paints, and I think has helped me be a better leader.”
Grasty says he is encouraged to be named a Top Guns honoree, as it recognizes the hard work his team has put in to achieve the growth and success they have had in the last 13 years.
“We didn’t get back in the business for the accolades; we missed interacting with our customers and friends in the industry,” Grasty says. “But the Top Guns award is validation for the work we’ve put in. It took a lot of work, pain, suffering, agony and worrying to get where we are now, so to get recognized is a great honor and we’re super thankful.”
With three generations behind him, Gold Beach Lumber Yard president Ryan Ringer had some large shoes to fill stepping into leadership at the company. Ringer started his journey in the family business at an early age, sweeping floors after getting off the school bus. After college, he explored other career opportunities for a few years but ultimately decided that Gold Beach was where he wanted to be.
“My father had experienced a high percentage of growth and was at a point where he needed to take on another expansion at our single store operation,” Ringer says. “We made an agreement that I would come back to Gold Beach and work on the operation side and he would work on the facility projects to help grow the business.”
The partnership has proved successful, with Gold Beach Lumber Yard now operating stores in nine locations in Western Oregon. Founded in 1959 by Ringer’s great-grandparents Clarence and Pearl Ringer, the company has grown through four generations, growing to new locations and expanding services.
The first major changes Ringer, alongside his father, made to Gold Beach Lumber Yard resulted in sales increases of 186% over four years. After he orchestrated the opening of a second location in 2008, a major recession hit the area. Instead of pulling back, Gold Beach Lumber Yard invested in a new advertising campaign and expansion into other product categories and business rebounded. In 2014, he opened a third location in Port Orford, Oregon, with six more locations opening in the last decade. In 2015, Ringer was named an
NHPA Young Retailer of the Year.
Through all the growth, Ringer says the company has committed to retain a small business culture and welcoming environment.
“When you walk in our doors, we want the place to be alive, whether that’s music playing or people laughing,” Ringer says. “We try to create an environment that someone wants to enjoy.”
Even though he’s in a leadership role, Ringer admits he doesn’t always feel like a leader.
“I don’t wake up in the morning and say, ‘How am I going to lead better?’ but everything I’ve done as a leader has been taking advantage of the opportunities in front of me,” Ringer says.
Ringer says he and his team have worked on finding and putting the right people in the right positions, and they have added several key experienced team members in the last three years. Instead of being reactionary to growth, Ringer says his team recently has been seeking out growth opportunities.
“You show up, you work hard, you try to make all good decisions, but when you have an idea or project that is struggling to get going, you need to be quick to pivot,” Ringer says. “I think that is the luxury of being a small business, you can make choices quickly.”
Once they get the right people in the right roles, the Gold Beach Lumber Yard company culture and core values permeate everything the team does. Ringer says they focus on helping customers solve their problems and treating others like they would want to be treated.
“Everyone who walks through our doors has a problem. We don’t know what their problem is, but we are going to do our best to make sure that when they leave, they have a solution,” Ringer says. “The solution might not be us. It might be a competitor, it might be something online, it might be something in another town. But our job is to try and solve their problem because if we went to someone with a problem, we would want that solved.”
Building future leaders who embody the company’s culture and core values starts with empowering the regional and store managers, Ringer says. Managers are given the freedom to make decisions in their stores that they feel will be most beneficial to the operation.
“We have a conversation with each store manager and that we trust them with our family’s assets, but we’ve put them in that position because we believe in them and their decision-making capabilities,” Ringer says. “We are not going to put someone in that position if they don’t have the values of the organization at heart.”
Following Strong Leaders
There have been a number of people who have influenced Ringer in the independent home improvement channel. One of those early leaders was Art Freedman, a Margin Master software expert. Ringer says Freedman has been influential in his thought process about retail pricing strategy and attributes the company’s growth to the two days he spent with Freedman early in his career. Freedman’s teachings helped shape Ringer’s approach to the company’s profitability.
“Freedman had a saying, ‘Making money is not illegal,’ and we have taken that to heart and gone to market with good products and excellent service at a fair price,” Ringer says. “With that strategy and executing on the products and service pieces, we’ve been able to see margin enhancement, which has helped us grow at a fast but responsible pace.”
Other leaders Ringer looks up to include fellow retailers he’s met through a NHPA roundtable he participates in. Made up of independent home improvement retailers from every co-op and of all sizes, the roundtable group has allowed Ringer to share ideas, opportunities and challenges with like-minded colleagues.
“These are very high performing people with extensive industry experience and successful companies,” Ringer says. “I’ve been able to borrow ideas from them, which is invaluable. Every time we get together, we’re having masters’ level business classes and we’re able to get real information in a very timely manner to pivot our company left or right or enhance our company.”
As a Top Guns honoree, Ringer diverts the attention away from himself and onto his team he’s worked with for over 20 years. Ringer says he’s grateful to come in every day to work and meet with great people to collaborate and make decisions.
“I haven’t done it by myself. Getting the right people in the right seat has been fun, and it’s been exciting to watch them grow; I’m very proud of my team,” Ringer says. “This award is a tribute to all of them.”
Ringer also appreciates all his parents have poured into him to help him succeed in this career.
“They passed the torch to me, and the opportunity I’ve had to grow the company comes from the excellent foundation they built,” Ringer says. “When they drafted the sale of the business to me, the payment terms they gave me were geared towards allowing me to continually grow. I was not financially strapped down until I could pay them off. So this award also goes to my parents.”
Taking an unusual path into the independent channel, Hervey Wright was working for a cardiology clinic as a healthcare administrator before joining the hardware industry. He was interviewing at a few rural Kansas hospitals, including a hospital in Ashland, Kansas. That interview process included visits to local businesses, and Home Lumber and Supply Co. was one of those stops. There he met John Humphreys.
When Wright didn’t receive the position at the hospital he was in town interviewing for, Humphreys—who was impressed with Wright from that one visit—reached out offering him a job in hardware and lumber.
“My wife and I really liked the town of Ashland, and I have always enjoyed the industry even though I was never really directly involved in it,” Wright says. “When this opportunity came, I jumped on it and have not looked back. In a twist of irony, my wife now heads that hospital and does a better job than I probably would have.”
Going from health care to hardware might seem like a stretch, but Wright says it was the welcoming atmosphere and closeness of the staff he witnessed during that store visit that convinced him.
“The manager meetings felt more like a family reunion. It felt like people really cared and wanted to be there for the long haul,” Wright says. “That’s what really drew me in; that’s something you don’t see in organizations as often anymore.”
Wright joined Home Lumber and Supply Co. as a sales manager and after a year, he became a general manager. He still holds the title of general manager and oversees the day-to-day operations of the company, but also serves as president of the board.
“I was glad I didn’t just jump right in as president because it gave me the opportunity to really get to know the company better and get to know all the managers and the people in the stores better,” Wright says. “It was a good transition period for me.”
Leading With Trust
As a leader, Wright focuses on two main areas: trust and candor.
“You have to be able to trust your people are going to do what they’re supposed to do and have the best interests of the company at heart,” Wright says. “You’ve hired them, so you know they have the ability to do it; don’t micromanage them.”
The candor piece ties into the trust piece, Wright says. He shares the company’s profit and loss statements with all employees because he wants them to know where the company’s heading. He says he continually considers whether a decision will hinder the trust he’s built and if it’s the right decision for the whole.
As Wright is making decisions as a leader, he’s also including the company’s core values—integrity, innovation, communication and a winning team mindset—to do whatever it takes to be successful.
“At the end of the day, I want to make sure that I’m looking out for everybody’s best interests when I make these decisions and building that trust,” Wright says. “I may have the title of president, but that’s one role of the many that make our company successful, and we all work together. It’s a pretty simple playbook—we trust our people to do the right thing and then we try to make the best decisions that help everybody.”
That trust Wright has in his employees shows up in the ways he empowers them to be leaders. He is grateful to have people trust him at a younger age to take on leadership roles and tries to do the same for those around him by identifying those individuals who have a passion for leadership and then mentoring them and giving them the training to be successful.
One of the stores recently suffered damage from a fire. Without being prompted or asked, a manager from a nearby store drafted a proposal for a plan to get that store operational.
“There are a lot of really capable people out there, you just have to trust them and give them an opportunity to prove themselves and rise to the occasion,” Wright says. “Empowering our people in this way has also been helpful for recruitment as they can see the success others have had.”
Wright also encourages innovation throughout the company. The company has been around since 1905, but Wright says he doesn’t want to become complacent and fall into the habit of doing things a certain way just because that’s how they’ve always been done. He wants innovation to drive efficiencies that benefit the employees and the operation.
“We’re really trying to embrace technology as it becomes available to our industry so we can create better ways for employees to work, so they don’t have to work so hard,” Wright says. “I want to figure out a way to be more efficient so that we can give them more time to be with their families or do what they want to do besides just be at our stores or lumberyards.”
Finding Inspiration
Wright says he is grateful for so many in this industry who have inspired him as a leader.
“From the leaders I have had the fortune to hear speak at the Independent Hardware Conference to the speakers I heard going through the NHPA Retail Management Certification Program, they have all changed how I lead in my organization,” Wright says. “One of the neat aspects of this industry is obviously we’re competing in different areas, but we’re also a collective group of independents who are willing to share how things are done and learn from each other.”
Wright also looks up to historical figures like Dwight D. Eisenhower and Abraham Lincoln, along with his father, who was in leadership at a college, and mother, who both have been big supporters. He also appreciates the encouragement and day-to-day support he has received over the years from his team, especially as a younger and inexperienced employee.
When it comes to being named a Top Guns honoree, looking at previous honorees, including his predecessor Humphreys who was a Top Guns honoree in 2009, Wright says he doesn’t quite feel deserving of it yet.
“I’d look at it more as a team win and loop it back to my whole team. Everybody else in this company makes me look good, so I am accepting on behalf of our whole company,” Wright says. “It’s a great honor to be recognized for how far we’ve come along. It’s been a trial by fire, but everybody’s risen to the challenge. This award is an acknowledgment of all of our hard work trying to keep growing and being successful as a company.”
Recognizing Greatness
Don’t miss your chance to honor the Top Guns Awards honorees at the 2025 Independent Home Improvement Conference in July. Learn more at IHIConference.org.
