Top 40 supplier Stouse (asi/89910) announced Monday that Clay Davis is its new CEO and president effective immediately. Davis succeeds Bruce Reed, who is retiring after 14 years of leading the New Century, KS-based firm. Reed will remain active on the company’s Board of Directors.

Clay Davis, CEO/President, Stouse

Davis, who will be responsible for guiding the next phase of Stouse’s growth and corporate development, has more than 25 years of experience in senior leadership, sales and marketing roles in the packaging, printing and food manufacturing sectors. He most recently served as vice president and general manager for Flint Group North America’s packaging business. 

“After an extensive search, we are very pleased to have found a leader of Clay’s stature and experience,” said Reed. “I feel very confident leaving this organization in his capable hands, and look forward to working with and supporting him as he builds upon the Stouse platform.”

Davis is excited to be aboard. “Stouse has a strong reputation for excellent service in the specialty printing industry,” he said. “I am thrilled to join the company. We plan to explore ways to innovate and help drive growth for our customers while upholding the high-value service our clients deserve.”

Speaking to Counselor, Davis said that enhancements are in the works that will prove a boon to distributors. “Stouse has immediate plans to launch a new website and ecommerce platform to make it easier and more efficient to do business with us,” he told Counselor. “Our distributors wanted an easier way to get quotes, place orders and view order status online, and we’re building a solution to meet their needs. The organization has been working on it for a few months and plans to launch it in the near future.”

A 1991 graduate of Miami University (Ohio), Davis earned a bachelors’ of science in business, his major being economics. His minor was in decision sciences. From 2004 through 2008, Davis was a regional vice president for baked goods distribution company Otis Spunkmeyer. From 2008 through 2011, he held general manager and vice president roles at Cargill, the largest privately held corporation in the U.S. in terms of revenue. Davis then spent five years in vice president and senior vice president positions at packaging solutions firm D&W Fine Pack before joining Flint Group in 2016.

“I see Stouse supporting the promo products industry with innovative manufacturing and printing techniques that provide value to our distributors and give them opportunities to be in front of their customers more often,” Davis told Counselor.

Executives at Goldner Hawn, the Minnesota-based private equity firm of which Stouse is a portfolio company, thanked Reed for his work at the supplier company.

“Bruce has been instrumental in building Stouse to its market-leading position,” said Joe Heinen, managing director of Goldner Hawn. “All of us at Goldner Hawn and the Stouse team are thankful for his vision, leadership, integrity and friendship over these many years. He is leaving behind an exceptionally strong organization poised for even more success in the future.”

With reported 2017 North American promotional product revenue of $50.9 million, Stouse ranked 29th on Counselor’s latest list of the largest suppliers in the industry.