Top 40 promotional products supplier HUB Promotional Group (HPG; asi/61966) has a new chief operating officer with extensive industry experience and a strong background in corporate finance, operations and more, executives said.

This week, the Braintree, MA-headquartered supplier announced that Rodd Steuart will be taking over the role, which was vacated in June when former HPG COO Chris Anderson rose to the position of chief executive officer. Steuart was most recently CEO of HandStands, a Utah-based supplier that HPG acquired nearly a year ago.

Rodd Steuart

“I have known and worked with Rodd for more than 10 years," said Anderson, a former HandStands executive that held roles that included chairman, CEO, president and vice president of sales at the firm. "Rodd’s extensive background and strength in both finance and operations, combined with his firsthand knowledge of, and commitment to, HPG’s mission, vision, values and strategy makes him the ideal person to lead our talented operations team into the next phase of growth and development at HPG.”

As COO, Steuart said he will be committed to social, environmental and economic responsibility in all HPG’s operations. “Having been a part of HPG for nearly a year now, I know the talent and opportunity that exists here, and I am excited to build upon the amazing foundation in place and humbled by the opportunity to lead an incredible group of operations professionals," Steuart said.

Steuart joined HandStands in 2008. In addition to CEO, his roles there included chief financial officer and executive vice president of operations. “As the CFO of Handstands, we grew the company (three times over) from 2008 to 2013,” Steuart said. “From 2013 to 2016, we again grew the business by (two times) while growing EBITDA by 3½ times.”

Steuart began his career as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and later became an audit manager at Deloitte. Before joining HandStands, his other roles included serving as a finance director and corporate controller. His experience includes having managed teams in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, South America and Europe. He’s also been involved in mergers and acquisitions.

“I am blessed with an outstanding senior leadership team at HPG, and the addition of Rodd Steuart only adds to my confidence in our team’s ability to create new standards of excellence and deliver on our promises to our customers,” Anderson said.

HPG’s portfolio of companies now includes Hub Pen, Beacon, Best/Cooler, Debco, BCG, Origaudio and HandStands. With reported 2018 North American promotional product revenue of $197.8 million, HPG ranked 9th on Counselor’s latest list of the largest suppliers in the industry. The firm’s five-year average annual growth rate is 39% — the fastest among promo’s top 10 suppliers.