Gina Schaefer

Co-founder and CEO, A Few Cool Hardware Stores

Gina Schaefer is the co-founder and CEO of A Few Cool Hardware Stores, a chain of stores located in D.C., Baltimore and Alexandria. She is a passionate entrepreneur who grew her company from one to 13 stores since 2003. Together with her husband, they lead a multi-million dollar small business that employs more than 250 people. Gina is passionate about developing urban markets, supporting small businesses and helping women succeed in all aspects of the hardware industry. Additionally, she focuses on improving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) across all of her stores by working to have a diverse employee base and leadership team that reflects the cities in which they operate. According to Gina, DEI is not just a Human Resource function. It needs to be initiated, championed and supported by the leaders of the company, so that the entire team knows they are valued and that it’s important to the company as a whole.