Howard Brodsky

Howard Brodsky is an American entrepreneur and world leader of Cooperatives. In 1984 he co-founded CCA Global Partners, and has been its Chairman and Chief Executive for the past 33 years.

Brodsky grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire. He attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and graduated in 1966 with a degree in economics.

After graduation, Brodsky joined the family business, Dean’s Carpet in Manchester, New Hampshire, and became its president. In 1980, he helped to create the American Floor Covering Association, now named the World Floor Covering Association, an international trade advocacy organization representing floor covering retailers, manufacturers and distributors. He was elected president and later served as chairman.

In 1984, Brodsky and his friend Alan Greenberg, who was also in the floor covering business, created the company CCA Global Partners, and launched Carpet One Floor & Home as its first business. Initially, there were thirteen Carpet One Floor & Home stores; in 2017, the chain has more than 1,000 stores. Brodsky and Greenberg founded CCA Global Partners as a cooperative. Soon, they expanded from carpet into other retail sectors.

In 2017, CCA Global Partners is comprised of 14 divisional companies with annual sales of $10.2 billion.

Current divisions of CCA Global Partners include Carpet One Floor & Home, Flooring America, Flooring Canada, The Floor Trader, International Design Guild, Lighting One, ProSource, and The Bike Cooperative, totaling over 3,300 retail locations in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The newest company divisions are CCA for Social Good, which serves over 6,500 U.S. child care centers and 1,600 nonprofits; BizUnite, which provides business services for over half a million independent businesses; CCA Sports Retail Services, which helps independent fitness and ski stores compete with national chains; and Innovia Community Management Cooperative, which is a cooperative of home owner associations and management companies across North America.

Brodsky is also the chairman of Cooperatives for a Better World, a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization that aims to spread the cooperative message throughout the world. Cooperatives for a Better World focuses on the positive impact the cooperative business model can have on a local, national, and global level.

Brodsky speaks and writes on various topics related to business practice. He has been a keynote speaker at the Harvard Business School, the Better Business Bureau Torch Awards, and the 2015 Global Conference of the International Co-operative Alliance in Antalya, Turkey, which coincided with the G20 Economic Summit. He has also addressed the XIX Regional Conference of Cooperatives of the Americas in Panama City, Panama, and the 2016 International Summit of Cooperatives in Quebec City, Canada. Brodsky also keynoted at Rivier College for the President's Leadership Forum, and he has been a featured speaker at TedX, and at E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year summits and competitions in Palm Springs and Boston. He has participated in several New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Chief Executive Magazine CEO Roundtables.

Brodsky has served as a national judge for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, Ernst & Young Entrepreneurial Winning Women Awards, the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, the Cooperative Hall of Fame, and the UNH Social Venture Innovation Challenge.

In 2015, Brodsky, along with co-author Dustin S. Klein, published a book, The Unexpected: Breakthrough Strategies to Supercharge Your Business and Earn Loyal Customers for Life, through Smart Business Network.

• Founder of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of New Hampshire and chairman for over 18 years
• Founder of the Social Entrepreneurship Student Leadership Program of New Hampshire
• Founder and chairman of the American Floor Covering Association (now known as the World Floor Covering Association)
• Chairman of the Floor Covering Industry Foundation (FCIF)
• Created NonProfit Next, a web-based platform in conjunction with the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits
• Vice Chair of the Governor’s Commission on Innovation, Efficiency, and Transparency
• Vice Chairman of the American Cancer Society New England Chapter of CEOs Against Cancer
• Judge and chairman of the National Judging Committee for the North American Entrepreneur of the Year Program
• National Cooperative Business Association Board of Trustees
• Southern New Hampshire University Board of Trustees
• Palace Theatre Board of Trustees. Named one of only four Trustee Emeriti for his lifetime dedication
• Elliot Hospital Board of Trustees
• New Hampshire Institute of Art Board of Trustees
• Incorporator of the Manchester division of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation

• ^ "Howard Brodsky" Bloomberg Retrieved 12 Jan 2017
• Stone, Tracie (28 March 2008). "Program helps students meet the challenge of leadership". Nashua Telegraph. Retrieved 17 January 2017. 
• "Howard Brodsky" CCA Global Partners
• "Nonprofit Next". NH Center for Nonprofits. Retrieved 17 January 2017. 
• "NCBA CLUSA Board of Directors". National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA. Retrieved 15 January 2017. 
• "Board of Trustees". Southern New Hampshire University. Retrieved 13 January 2017. 
• "Elliot Hospital Board of Trustees & Elliot Health System Board of Directors 2016". Elliot Hospital. Retrieved 13 January 2017. 
• "Business People: Named to Board". The Telegraph. 22 December 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2017. 

Brodsky's wife Joan is a whole health educator. His son Greg is a 1999 Wesleyan graduate and founded CCA Bike and Ski Cooperative groups. His son Jeffrey is an oral historian with an advanced degree from Columbia University. In his free time, Brodsky serves as a justice of the peace. He has performed over 30 wedding ceremonies with no divorces.

• Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame
• Induction into Cooperative Hall of Fame (2009)
• World Floor Covering Industry Hall of Fame (1992)
• New Hampshire Business Leader of the Year (2012)
• Granite State Legacy Award (2015)
• New Hampshire Business Review Hall of Fame (2011)
• Retail Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and NASDAQ Stock Exchange (1997)
• Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative Award of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (1998)
• Best Company to Work for by Business New Hampshire Magazine
• New Hampshire Jobs for America's Graduates (NH JAG) Leadership Award (2016)
• Named to HFN’s “Power 100” (2004)
• National Retailer of the Year by National Congress Floor Covering Associations (1994)
• USA Weekend Make a Difference Day Awards
• Best New Idea to Change the World

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• "Howard Brodsky and Alan Greenberg". Cooperative Hall of Fame. Retrieved 14 January 2017. 
• "Business Leader of the Year" Business NH Magazine. May 2012
• "Granite State Legacy Awards" New Hampshire Sunday News. May 2015
• "2011 NHBR Business Excellence Awards winners" NH Business Review Nov 2011.
• "September 2016: NH's Best Companies to Work For". Business New Hampshire Magazine. September 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2017. 
• "#5 Best Large Company to Work For CCA Global Partners". Business New Hampshire Magazine. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2017. 
• "NH JAG RECOGNIZES SUPPORTERS AT THE 10th ANNUAL LEADERSHIP AWARDS EVENT" NH-JAG Retrieved 11 Jan 2017.
• "About Us" CCA Global Partners
• "Leadership Teacher Board of Directors". Leadership Teacher. Retrieved 13 January 2017. 
• "2016 Best of Business Awards winners". New Hampshire Business Review. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2017.