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 Ash Ebbo, CEO of Clement’s Paint in the Austin, Texas, area.
“Top Guns honorees are pillars of innovation and forward-thinking, and have helped grow their businesses through strategic leadership 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.”
Winning the Top Guns Awards honor was a surprise to Ash.
“I definitely wasn’t expecting it, and it’s an honor,” Ash says. “I’ve been working really, really hard going back to school trying to make myself better. I think getting a little recognition just makes me really proud.”
Culture Comes First
The independent paint channel is in Ash’s blood. Ash’s father opened the store in 1986 so it has always been a part of her life. Joining the operation full-time about 13 years ago, Ash went into the business with a desire to continue the legacy her father started. In the last 40 years, Clement’s Paint has grown from one store to nine.
“In the end, there’s really nothing like working for yourself. And it’s been a fun adventure with my dad and my brother-in-law Scott, who also works at Clement’s Paint with us,” Ash says.
As the CEO, Ash manages the back-end financials, making sure everything’s operationally running well and that the business is making money. Ash also helps drive company culture at Clement’s Paint, which she says drives success across the board.
“We work really hard on culture and trying to make sure we have the right people in the right places who want to be there,” Ash says.
The team at Clement’s Paint understands their stores will rarely offer the lowest prices, so everyone works to create an environment where people want to be, building relationships with customers to keep them coming back to the stores.
“I recently finished my MBA and in one of the classes, we talked a lot about the difference between the game that it looks like you’re in, which for us would be retail, and the game that we’re actually in, which is customer relationships,” Ash says. “My dad likes to say, ‘With all things equal across the board, you’re going to buy from your friends. All things unequal across the board, you’re probably still going to buy from your friends.’ Customer relationships are everything, and I think that starts with culture and the guys on the front line in the stores.”
One way Ash and the team have invested in employees is through the new employee appreciation banquet the company hosts. The event brings the whole team together for a night of food, fun and recognition, with awards, gift cards, raffles and more.
“It’s great to honor everyone and give the people who have earned it a little bit of time in the limelight. It seems to really create positive morale,” Ash says.
On a day-to-day basis, Ash and the team work to build culture just by being present in the stores. Between Ash and her brother-in-law Scott, they are able to get around to all of the stores regularly to talk to employees, take feedback and make those meaningful changes.
“One of the nice things about a small business is that we can turn on a dime. There’s no bureaucracy or red tape to go through,” Ash says. “If something’s not working, we change it. It’s one of the strongest ways to build a sustainable culture.”
That strong culture has helped Clement’s Paint grow, especially when opening a brand new store.
“When you acquire a store, you have a customer base, but opening a new store, you’re going into somewhere pretty much blind. You have your ideas about the area, but you have to raise awareness,” Ash says. “Having a bench of employees who are ready to take on that kind of challenge is pretty much everything.”
Leaning Into Leadership
When Ash looks at her path to leadership, she is grateful for her brother-in-law Scott Lawson, who set the example for what a strong leader looks like.
“He’s taught me a lot about what it means to be a good leader, and I’ve grown a lot just from listening to him,”
Ash says.
Ash also recently earned a master of business administration, which has led to her growth as a leader.
As Ash and the team at Clement’s Paint work to build up future leaders, the company’s culture is key to creating a new generation of leadership. Leadership leans into managers and assistant managers to help create standard operating procedures (SOPs) around the expectations of being a leader, so they and future managers have a guide on how to grow in the company.
“I think leadership comes naturally to some people and is harder for others. If an employee is struggling, we provide those resources and people to help lead them if they’re having trouble taking on some of the responsibility naturally,” Ash says. “We want to build a bench of those natural leaders who are able to build more leaders around them, and fortunately, we have many of those people already in place.”
As part of a strategy to empower leaders, Ash brought in NHPA a few years ago to conduct a seminar on financial training for the store’s managers. During the session, managers learned how to read a profit and loss statement, the significance of key metrics and what they could do to improve them.
For many, the training offered a whole new way of thinking about the business. Ash combines certain line items on the profit and loss statement to make the more sensitive areas vague, only giving managers quarterly reports, as that offers a better perspective of how the numbers are trending.
“As soon as our managers could see and understand the P&L statement, they instantly started diving into ideas about how they could improve it,” Ash says. “Financial training has made our employees smarter and helped managers make more educated decisions.”
Building up leaders throughout the independent channel will also be key to growth in the industry, Ash says.
“At the ALLPRO conferences lately, I feel like there’s been a lot of discussion about unity, and I think us working together as independent retailers, rather than being in competition, is probably going to be our biggest strength moving forward,” Ash says. “I think that networking is one of the biggest benefits of any of these conferences because learning from each other is the best thing we can do for growth for all.”
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