#20 Carleen Gray

GroupeSTAHL (asi/88984) – CEO

2025 Rank: #12

Industry Experience: 28 years

Previous Appearances on Counselor Power 50: 8

Carleen Gray, CEO of Stahls’ (asi/88984), is focused on one major goal for the 94-year-old family business she began leading in 2018: becoming “a much easier company to do business with.” In 2026, Stahls’ accelerated its evolution into one global entity, “aligning our brands, technology and teams around a unified strategy,” she adds. Traditionally, clients working with multiple Stahls’ divisions often had to set up separate accounts. To help solidify the unified new vision, Stahls’ has invested in a global ERP system. “It’s a three-year process, but we’ve kicked it off, and we’re managing it really well,” says Gray, the Counselor 2025 International Person of the Year.

Gray drops eight rungs on this year’s Counselor Power 50 list due to receiving lower influence ratings from both her Power 50 peers and the industry at large. Still, Gray and Stahls’ remain centered on strengthening the company’s position as an apparel decoration technology leader while honoring and preserving the culture and customer commitment it’s built over close to a century in business. In practice, that means advancing the company’s Fulfill Engine print-on-demand platform, expanding enterprise capabilities and releasing new technologies for distributors and decorators. In the past year, Stahls’ acquired heat-transfer brand Siser, announced a custom jersey deal with Major League Soccer and launched an automated six-station carousel heat press for direct-to-film and other transfers through its Hotronix brand.