#5 Jim Hilt

HALO (asi/356000) – CEO

2025 Rank: #34

Industry Experience: 1 year

Previous Appearances on Counselor Power 50: 1

Jim Hilt barely had time to get settled when he made his debut last year on the Counselor Power 50 list. Now established with a full year under his belt at the industry’s second-largest distributor, and very high influence ratings from his Counselor Power 50 peers, the CEO of Counselor Top 40 distributor HALO (asi/356000) rockets into the top five of this year’s list.

A seasoned executive with previous stops at Shutterfly, Express and Barnes & Noble, Hilt wasted no time in 2026 making his influence felt. HALO added a number of executives to both its leadership team and board, acquired two distributors (Leslie Jordan Inc. and St. Louis-based T & P Incentives) this fall and hosted its high-end “House of HALO” national sales meeting in May, which drew more than 800 attendees. That event in particular “really emphasized our new commitment to connecting teams and engaging industry partners,” says Hilt. “It’s been a great year for sales and client momentum at HALO, driven by some large client wins.”

To ensure that account executives and teams are fully supported, Hilt says the company is expanding its program capabilities and enhancing its tech platform. Indeed, HALO this year launched Atlas, an AI-powered intelligence platform that the distributor says can help users find information, summarize content and access guidance across the company’s systems. “Our entire company,” Hilt says, “has embraced the early phases of HALO Atlas as the starting point of a significant transformation in helping us move faster and serve clients better.”

At last year’s ASI Power Summit, Hilt outlined goals that included growing HALO by high single-digit or double-digit percentages and transforming the distributor into a technology company. Now, a year later, he tells Counselor, “I’ve been inspired by the entrepreneurial drive of our account executives and the creativity of our teams. My focus has been on harnessing that energy into clear direction, where our people feel supported by the platform we’re building and confident in our shared growth path.”