Helping Build Hope, Together
Helping Build Hope, Together
John Surane of Ace Hardware and a 2026 Spirit of Life® honoree, is uniting the National Hardware Homebuilding Industry to help build hope for patients and families everywhere. Your support strengthens City of Hope’s commitment to prevent cancer and detect it earlier, accelerate lifesaving research for cures, and deliver compassionate, whole-person care.
Every gift helps move breakthroughs forward and ensures patients across the country have access to the screenings, treatments, and survivorship support they need. Thank you for helping build a future where hope reaches every community—and every patient who depends on it.
Honoring John Surane
John Surane has served as Executive Vice President & Chief Growth Officer at Ace Hardware since January 2024, guiding the company’s growth agenda across new businesses, strategic initiatives, and adjacent expansions. He also provides executive leadership for Emery Jensen Distribution (EJD) and Ace International Holdings.
Since joining Ace in 2009, John has partnered with retailer-owners, vendor partners, and corporate teams to grow wholesale revenue from under $3 billion to nearly $10 billion. During his tenure, Ace expanded its network to 6,000+ stores worldwide, added 930+ new U.S. locations in the past five years, and surpassed $23 billion in systemwide retail sales—making Ace the fifth-largest U.S. franchise. Under his leadership, Ace strengthened its customer-first value proposition of quality, service, and convenience while expanding its locally relevant, differentiated assortment to more than 100,000 SKUs from 2,200 vendor partners. Following the acquisitions of Emery-Waterhouse (2014) and Jensen Distribution Services (2015), he led the launch of EJD, a business that has more than doubled in size and now serves independent hardware, lumber and building material, and e-commerce retailers.
Previously, John served as Ace’s Executive Vice President, Chief Merchandising & Sales Officer (2012–2023), following leadership roles in Merchandising, Marketing, Advertising, and Paint (2009–2011). Before Ace, he held general management and commercial leadership positions at Robert Bosch Tool Corporation, including President of Skil Power Tools, and earlier served as a Global Product Merchant at The Home Depot.
He holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Northwestern State University (LA) and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.