Meet the woman of the hour and an exceptional leader, Ashley Hunsaker is the Chief Executive Officer of HTS Coatings LLC. Ashley has a demonstrated history of working in the mining and metals industry. She is backed by strong entrepreneurship skills in Cash Flow, Revenue Recognition, Budgeting, Sales Tax, and Microsoft Excel. She founded HTS, a thermal spray, machining, and grinding company along with her husband, Jason in 2015. Initially, the company started its operations with a small team of experienced professionals and gradually escalated to a bigger team.
Soon, the vision started to become a reality. Beginning with a 30,000-square-foot facility, thermal spray, machining, grinding, and welding capabilities; HTS Coatings LLC opened its doors in October of 2015. Customers were coming in quickly and while power was still being installed in the current facility, the team began to fulfil that work using generators to power the spray and finishing equipment. Even as a startup, serving the customer was HTS’s top priority.
The Journey from facing Setbacks to achieving Breakthroughs
While HTS continued to thrive, those initial years were not without setbacks. Growing pains resulted in changes in partnership and a name change in 2017 from HB Coatings LLC to HTS Coatings, LLC. The company set out then, to focus on improving its culture and invest in its HTS family. It created its mission and vision for which it stands today and strives every day to fulfil its shared commitment and goals.
• HTS’s Mission
We exist to give God all the glory. We seek every day to make this show in the way we treat our customers and employees, carry out our work, and in the service we deliver.
• HTS’s Vision
Enhancing life by working as a family to help customers achieve their goals.
• HTS Difference
Provides large company capabilities
Since then, the company has continued to grow and evolve to meet the needs of its customers and employees. By adding an in-house lab and pursuing ISO certification, it continues to push for the best for its HTS family. Over the last eight years it has been amazing to see how God has moved and worked to bring out the HTS Coatings that exist today.
In 2021, HTS Coatings, LLC won the INC 5000 award for the top 5,000 fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States.
A Record of Ashley’s Journey
Ashley earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Pensacola Christian College. She has over 19 years of experience in accounting and still enjoys accounting but taking care of people is her favorite part of the job. She also works daily to ensure that HTS exemplifies its core values of Camaraderie, Gratitude, Willingness to Change, and High Expectations.
She is a member of C12 Group, an organization for Christian business leaders. She is also a member of the Illinois Manufacturing Association and the National Tooling and Machining Association.. She serves on the board and is currently the treasurer for Mosaic Health, a no-cost and confidential pregnancy help, testing, and sexual health service provider. As a Covenant Member of August Gate church in Belleville, she weekly teaches Sunday School to 1st-5th graders. In 2022 Ashley was the Republican candidate for the Illinois House of Representatives for District 113.
She and Jason are raising four children together; Robbie (14), Drew (13), April (8), and Danny (5) and enjoy camping in their 24′ camper. They have visited 18 states so far, with a goal of all 48 contiguous states. She also enjoys running and has completed 6 half marathons and a full marathon in 2020. Her next goal is a through hike such as the River to River trail.
Ashley is known for:
• Her zeal
• Her heart for people
• Her knowledge and experience in accounting and other related business experience
A Suite of Offerings
HTS is a full-service thermal spray, grinding, machining, and welding facility. The company specializes in preventing wear from corrosion and erosion along with the repair of components damaged in operation. It has a long history of knowing how to make things work better and longer.
HTS cares about the consistency of its coatings and has taken steps to ensure it by building an internal lab for coating evaluations. Since its lab is in-house, it can provide quick coating results, improving its production turnaround times. Its staff is highly knowledgeable with backgrounds in all aspects of coating evaluation. It serves a large client base across various industries including General Industrial, Glass, Mining, Oil & Gas, Power Generation, Print, and more.
Ashley’s Mantra to Keep Going and Growing
Seeing the lives of her employees and customers become better because of HTS, is what keeps Ashley going. People are what matter the most to her. She loves the people she works with. Sometimes the “better” is hard to see and other times it is very evident.
She fondly states, “I have had employees from years ago reach out and tell me ways that working at HTS has changed them for the better. Those conversations, make all the sacrifices worth it.”
Flexibility is Key
To lead an organization, especially in terms of crisis is challenging and Ashley believes it is not the integration of new skills but the flexibility that can save you.
Ashley adds, “HTS is a machine shop – when everyone was working from home, we were not able to. So how can we compete with offers to work from home? We implemented four ten-hour working days to give our employees more time at home. We also extended our schedule to include Saturday in our normal rotation to allow for days off during the week. Being flexible with our schedule has shown our employees that we do care for them and their families.”
Additionally, Ashley copes with the challenges of leadership with the power of her peers. Her C12 group has been such an encouragement to her. Feeling “Alone at the Top” is a real feeling. But with peers, that feeling dissipates.
Ashley’s future is bright and mighty while continuing to Enhance Lives – Just an increased number of lives and customers. 😊
Boosting Productively, the Right Way
One of HTS’s core values is High Expectations. Peter Drucker says, “One can’t manage what one doesn’t measure.” and Ashley believes this wholeheartedly. Every Wednesday, the company has a “Winning Wednesday” meeting, and it goes over its shipped hours and on-time deliveries. It has weekly and quarterly goals. Last September, it set a goal for its shipped hours. The goal was so high and it was such a stretch Ashley wasn’t sure they would make it. But the team measured it, celebrated it, rewarded it, challenged it, and EXCEEDED that goal.
Engaging and telling the employees exactly what the goal is and how THEY can achieve it – has driven productivity at HTS.
Ashley Pens the Parting Note
“Another one of our core values is Gratitude. It is such an honor to be recognized as one of the 10 Most Admired Business Leaders to Watch in 2023, but it’s not about me, it’s about God and the team. Truly God has blessed HTS beyond our wildest dreams. God deserves all the glory for the lives that have been enhanced and the work that He is doing at HTS. Our team at HTS is the dream team. They work hard and strive for excellence. I am so very grateful to God and to our team.”
