#9 Chris Anderson

HPG (asi/61966) – CEO

2023 Rank: #7

Industry Experience: 22 Years

Previous Appearances on Power 50: 5

The leader of Counselor Top 40 supplier HPG slides two spots on this year’s Counselor Power 50 list but remains in the Top 10 for the fourth consecutive year. It was a quiet year by Anderson’s and HPG’s standards. For a company that routinely makes headline news with significant acquisitions, the Braintree, MA-based firm hasn’t announced a purchase since its January 2023 bombshell that it acquired former Counselor Top 40 supplier Evans Manufacturing.

Still, Anderson is pressing HPG forward on a number of fronts. The company is planning on expanding its capabilities across North America into Canada and Mexico, as well as opening a new flagship production facility in the U.S. It’s digging deeper into sustainability by earning CarbonNeutral certification and rolling out a new sustainable product categorization. And Anderson continues to cultivate one of the brand-savviest enterprises in the industry, as evidenced by its slick rebrands (Debco being the latest) and accolades like the recent Counselor Promo Campaign Award for Best Supplier Self-Promotion.

Most impressively, he’s coordinated all of HPG’s efforts while dealing with a diagnosis of colon cancer earlier this year. After a successful surgery that left him cancer-free, Anderson is committed to preaching the importance of early screening (it was a colonoscopy that allowed the doctors to catch his case early) and prepared to lead HPG full-charge into the future.