Julia H. Klein is Chairwoman and CEO of C.H. Briggs Co., a value-added distributor of specialty building products headquartered in Reading, PA. Past and current Board service includes C.H. Briggs, Hedwin Corporation, Arbill Safety Supply, Reading Health System, Reading Physicians Network, Berks County Community Foundation, and the National Association of Wholesalers. She is a frequent speaker on technology, governance, entrepreneurship, and women’s issues, has a particular interest in closely held and family enterprises.

Julia Klein is a Chairwoman & CEO, Board Director, and leader in the building materials distribution industry. As C.E.O. and Chairwoman of C.H. Briggs Company, she transformed a local business into a super-regional, professionally managed platform company.

With expertise in strategy, governance, mergers and acquisitions, technology and supply chain solutions, and the residential and commercial construction industries, Ms. Klein has led C.H. Briggs for over 20 years. The Company is one of the nation’s largest independently owned distributors of specialty building materials. Customers include manufacturers, architects and designers of specialty interior products. Ms. Klein has successfully integrated 6 acquisitions expanding the C.H. Briggs footprint throughout the Middle Atlantic and Southeast.

Strategic use of new technology has established the company’s reputation as an innovator and Ms. Klein’s reputation as a thought leader in the industry. Over the last 20 years Briggs has achieved top quartile performance in its segment, and is among the nation’s top 100 women-owned businesses.

She has served as C.E.O. and Chairwoman of C.H. Briggs since 2007. She is a member of the Boards of Directors of Hedwin Corporation in Baltimore, Reading Physician Partners, the Reading Health System, Springboard Enterprises, Arzu Studio Hope, the Advisory Board of Modern Distribution Management, and is Co-Chair of the Committee of 200 Northeast Region. Most recently, Ms. Klein was elected to The College of Wooster’s Board of Trustees. She is a former member of the Advisory Boards of Quaker Maid Meats, Inc. and Arbill Industries, Inc.

She and C.H. Briggs have received numerous industry and community awards. Ms. Klein was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards© in Greater Philadelphia, and was honored with the Junior Achievement Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame Award, the Athena Award, and as a Distinguished Girl Scout Alumna by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania. She also received the SmartCEO magazine Brava Award and Best Managed Companies in Philadelphia.

Ms. Klein is actively involved in numerous professional organizations. She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the NAW (National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors) Institute for Distribution Excellence, the Board of Directors of the North American Building Materials Distribution Association, and the Cabinet Industry Distribution Association, which she helped establish. She is a member of Women Corporate Directors, World Presidents’ Organization (WPO) and a former member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO); she is also a member of the Committee of 200, an international organization of women entrepreneurs, executives, and board members.

She was a member of the Board of the Berks County Community Foundation for 11 years, served as Chairwoman and continues as a member of its Governance Committee. Ms. Klein served on the Governance Committee of Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania and was a founding member of BEP.

She earned a M.A. in Public Policy as an Urban Scholars Fellow at the University of Chicago and a B.A. from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. Ms. Klein and her husband have a college-aged son and live in Reading, Pennsylvania.