Gina Schaefer is the founder and CEO of over a dozen hardware stores in Washington, DC, Baltimore, MD, and the surrounding areas. As a member of the Ace Hardware Cooperative, Gina leads a multimillion-dollar business that employs more than 250 people. She is dedicated to maintaining a strong corporate culture and has begun a transfer of ownership through an ESOP to her teammates. Schaefer’s big passion is for developing urban markets, supporting small businesses, and helping women to succeed in all aspects of the hardware industry. She has tirelessly focused on national efforts to increase the federal minimum wage and to pass legislation to strengthen antitrust and monopoly laws. Always striving to be creative, think differently, and make a difference, Gina received the Women Who Mean Business award from the Washington Business Journal and the Top Women in Hardware & Building Supply award. She has been recognized as an industry Top Gun by the National Retail Hardware Association, honored by Profiles in Diversity Journal as one of its Women Worth Watching, and recognized by Hardware and Building Supply Dealer as one of 2016’s People of the Year. Gina serves on the Corporate Board of CCA Global and the nonprofit board of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and she previously served as a member of Ace Hardware Corporation Board of Directors and on the nonprofit boards of House of Ruth and Think Local First DC. Learn more at recoveryhardware.com.
