In 1929, Haines was founded by William L. Haines in Canton, Ohio, and ever since then, it has been a family owned business. Over the years, William K. Haines, Sr. became CEO and in 1980, he passed the reigns along to his son, William K. Haines, Jr.

In 2016, after William K. Haines, Jr. lost his fight with cancer, his daughter, Ashley Williams took over at the helm as the company’s first female CEO. With the knowledge of three generations of family leadership, as well as the technical savvy from her background in the startup tech world, Ashley has taken the Haines directory into the future.

While the Haines directory has been a female-owned and operated business since 2016, this year, we finally took the leap! Now we are certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) through the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the nation’s largest third
party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women in the US.

This certification affirms that Haines is woman-owned, operated and controlled. Plus, we successfully met WBENC’s standards.

We’re excited to be certified alongside countless other incredible women-owned businesses. And we’re even more excited to have our founder’s great granddaughter, Ashley, leading us to greatness and building upon Haines’s success!

Customers are a part of our family. They shape our future, our goals, and – most importantly – help us develop products that are tailored to the needs of today’s business. Our number one goal is to help our customers make quality connections to empower the growth of their business. I am proud to be the 4th generation of the Haines family, and the company’s first female CEO. I’m 100% focused on continuing to grow Haines, build world class products, and serve our customers. Here’s to the next 90 years!