Welcome Your NHPA Board of Directors

The North American Hardware and Paint Association (NHPA) board of directors helps the association communicate and prioritize the needs of independent retailers like you.

As a not-for-profit, NHPA is governed by a board of directors, which is made up of independent retailers. With the guidance of retailers on the board, the association has existed since 1900, and has provided independent home improvement retailers with a range of educational tools, industry advocacy and opportunities to gather and share ideas and best practices.

This month’s cover story introduces Dan Harris, chairman of the NHPA board of directors. Learn more about Harris, who owns two hardware stores in the Chicago area, on Page 30. Here, meet the retailers who compose the current NHPA board of directors.

CHAIRMAN
Dan Harris, Palos Ace and Lemont Ace Hardware, Palos Heights, IL
Harris and his wife, Pattie, opened their first store after Harris first pursued a career on the corporate side of hardware. They opened a second store shortly after. Some domain challenges with their city led to the closure of their first store, but they were determined. They opened another location in the Chicago area and both stores are successful today. Now, Harris is starting his second year as chairman of the board of the NHPA, which he has been active on for nearly a decade.

EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRMAN
Jared Smith, Jared’s Ace Hardware, Bishopville, SC
Smith owns Jared’s Ace Hardware and Crossroads Outdoors in Bishopville, South Carolina. He has spent most of his life working in the home improvement industry, first working for his family’s business and then working for several years in the wholesale hardware industry. He returned to Jared’s Ace Hardware to work full time in 1981, expanding his father’s business into the thriving enterprise it is today.

Craig Bond, Tommy’s Paint Pot, Eugene, OR
Bond bought Tommy’s Paint Pot in 2002, fulfilling a dream to own his own business after working in retail management and sales in other sectors. He operates three locations in western Oregon. Bond was formerly chairman of the Paint and Decorating Retailers Association, which served retailers for more than 75 years. When NHPA opened its membership to paint and decorating retailers, Bond was eager to represent independent paint retailers on the NHPA board.

David Dishke, Grand River Home Hardware, Caledonia, ON
Dishke’s family started Grand River Home Hardware nearly 50 years ago, and Dishke began working for the hardware store in 1986 at age 15. In 1996, Dishke became manager and part owner of the business. In 2004, NHPA honored him as a Young Retailer of the Year. He has overseen store remodels and business expansions over the years, steadily growing the family business. In 2018, he purchased a second store in Hagersville, Ontario.

Scott Jerousek, Farm and Home Hardware, Wellington, OH
Jerousek is the third generation of his family to own Farm and Home Hardware in Wellington, Ohio, which originally opened in 1960. Jerousek grew up working at the store and bought the business from his father and uncle in 2007. He went on to buy the company’s second location in 2017, and as a result, was able to more than double his operation’s sales volume. NHPA honored him as one of the industry’s Top Guns in 2017.

Ryan Ringer, Gold Beach Lumber Co., Gold Beach, OR
Ringer represents the fourth generation of his family to own and operate Gold Beach Lumber, which he bought from his parents in 2015. Ringer has worked full time for the company since 2001 and has led the company’s growth in recent years. Under Ringer’s leadership, the company expanded its store count from one to seven locations in the past 12 years, including a handful of acquisitions. NHPA named Ringer a Young Retailer of the Year in 2015.

Jackie Sacks, Round Top Mercantile Co., Round Top, TX
Sacks is co-owner and managing partner of the business, which opened in 1984. She started at the company in high school and became an assistant manager in 2005 after she graduated from college. She and her husband Michael bought the business from Michael’s parents in 2014, the same year they expanded the store to its current size of 20,000 square feet. Sacks was named an NHPA Young Retailer of the Year in 2017 for her efforts growing the business.

Matt Woods, Woods Hardware, Cincinnati, OH
Woods is president and CEO of his family’s business, which has four locations in Ohio and one location in Kentucky. He oversaw the move of a 1,500-square-foot hardware store and locksmith business to an 8,000-square-foot location after a $1.5 million remodel. He also led the company’s acquisition of a local multistore hardware operation and online business. He oversaw development of the company’s virtual store tours and expansion of its e-commerce business.