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Celebrating its 20th year honoring trailblazing retailers in the channel, the North American Hardware and Paint Association (NHPA) has named its 2026 Top Guns Awards honorees, including Denise Brookhouse, CEO of Koopman Lumber, which is based in the Northeast.
“Top Guns honorees are pillars of forward-thinking and innovation, and have helped grow their businesses through strategic lead
ership with consideration for their communities, their teams and the industry,” says Scott Wright, NHPA president and publisher. “They’ve grown their businesses, challenged the status quo and led their teams through some of the industry’s toughest moments—and they’re not done yet. This year’s Top Guns are prime examples of what bold leadership looks like in independent home improvement retail today.”
Denise says she is honored to receive this recognition and join the class of accomplished past honorees.
“To be included in that category is truly an honor, but I’m only here because of the team that we have at Koopman Lumber,” Denise says. “I share this honor with all the employees and my team. This is a great industry with a lot of great people in it, and so to be recognized alongside them is an honor.”
The Path of Leadership
Denise was born into the industry. Her grandfather, Peter, founded Koopman Lumber in 1939 and her father, Don, joined the company after a career in teaching and sales.
“When I was 10, I would walk down to the hardware stores to dust shelves and face products,” Denise says. “From there, I moved up to receive product, work as a cashier and cut keys.”
While in college, Denise continued working at the stores during the summer but moved on to work as a Certified Public Accountant and then as part of the internal audit division of a Fortune 500 company. After several years in the corporate world, Don invited Denise and husband, Tony to join the company.
In 2011, Denise’s husband, Tony Brookhouse, who currently serves as COO of Koopman Lumber, received the Top Guns Awards honor, making the couple the first husband and wife to be named honorees. Koopman Lumber, started in Whitinsville, Massachusetts, operates 17 locations in the northeast U.S., including 15 retail stores and two distribution centers. The locations serve a mix of contractors and DIYers and include lumberyards, traditional hardware stores and one paint store. The operation employs over 580 people and also offers engineering and estimating, a window division, a kitchen division, power and rental.
What makes the operation successful is the culture and the company’s involvement in the communities where it has stores, Denise says.
“Because of our experienced and knowledgeable team, when people are working with Koopman Lumber, they realize that we can be a trusted partner,” she says. “We have strong core values and family values that we integrate into our day-to-day interactions with our staff and also our customers.”
In January 2026, Denise transitioned into the CEO role for the company after serving as CFO for 15 years. She succeeded her brother Dirk, who had served as the company’s CEO since 2010 and now is the company’s president and board chair.
“In January, I started going on what I was calling a listening tour, meeting all the employees, getting out to all the locations and connecting with all the managers to start formulating short and long term goals,” Denise says. “From what I learned, I was able to set those goals that would benefit all aspects of the company.”
The No. 1 goal Denise has set for the company is remaining independent and family-owned, integrating the fourth generation into the business and growing through either acquisitions or ground-ups. Leadership also wants to keep focusing on using data and implementing AI solutions to make all teams more efficient.
Koopman Lumber has partnered with 4R, an artificial intelligence platform that leverages AI to optimize a number of inventory-related functions. Additionally, the company utilizes EZ-Commerce, which integrates e-commerce with the point of sale system to provide a better online experience for customers.
“In the end, we just want to keep focusing on the customer, grow relationships and remain financially strong,” Denise says.
Exemplifying Leadership
In her journey from cashier to CEO, Denise credits the strong team she has in place. “I’m really only as strong as my team,” she says. “Having a really good team, especially with all the growth we’ve done in the last few years, has been key. That growth has really stretched our team in good ways, and I think it’s given us more opportunity.”
To grow as a leader, Denise takes part in several industry roundtables and reads books and listens to podcasts on leadership. She was also involved with a local family business group in her area.
“That group helped me focus on the succession part of our business and provided helpful insights into how other family business leaders operated and interacted,” she says.
Helping the teams at Koopman Lumber grow in their leadership abilities is also important to Denise, and the company has sent a number of employees to NHPA’s Retail Management Certification Program, which she says allows the company to find those employees who want to be developed as leaders and then gives them the skills to do so. The company offers a program called G4, where fourth-generation family members coming into the business must work outside the company for four years and then go through a rotation to work in every department, meet all of the teams and get an overall feel for how it operates and how everyone contributes.
Denise also has the goal of developing a leadership program at Koopman Lumber to identify employees who want to grow into managers and future leaders.
“Our rule is that family members have to work four years somewhere else before they can ask to join the company,” she says. “Once they do, they complete a series of 9- to 11-month rotations within different areas of the business. They also work with outside consultants and are reviewed by other employees who are not relatives before their career path is developed.”
To be successful in the independent channel moving forward, Denise says that retailers will need to pay attention to the consolidation happening in the industry and have a succession plan in place.
“I think technology will continue to be very important in keeping businesses more efficient, and along with embracing innovation, independents need to keep fulfilling the customer service piece,” she says. “That customer service side will continue to be a differentiator.”
