Columns/Opinions
Hannah Abrams is the senior content editor for Promo Marketing. In her free time, she enjoys coming up with excuses to avoid exercise, visiting her hometown in Los Angeles and rallying for Leonardo DiCaprio to win his first second Academy Award.
Kyle A. Richardson is the editorial director of Promo Marketing. He joined the company in 2006 brings more than a decade of publishing, marketing and media experience to the magazine. If you see him, buy him a drink.
Henrik Johansson is the CEO and co-founder of Boundless, an Austin-based Top 50 Distributor. Under his leadership, Boundless has developed the industry’s only platform specifically built for managing branded merchandise on the enterprise level. Prior to Boundless, Henrik was the president of Everdaywealth, an online financial services company and also the founder/president of Creditland, an online lending marketplace.
Bart Simpson is a third-generation leader for family owned and operated Flywheel Brands Inc., a print and digital marketing company focused on generating momentum behind today’s brands. A career entrepreneur, Bart has owned several businesses, the first of which he launched as a teenager. After earning his degree in Entrepreneurship from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, he was brought on by Flywheel to grow its client base from coast to coast. Bart now supplies innovative leadership to his growing Flywheel team as vice president of client development.
In addition to his colorful YouTube contributions, Bart dedicates his time as owner of CrossFit Rivne in Ukraine and as chairman of the board for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes - Ukraine. He and his wife, Ashley, reside in Chattanooga and are proud parents of three young Flywheelers, Crew, Cove and Cora.
Roger Burnett has spent 20-plus years making complex concepts more understandable for both buyers and sellers alike, and has devoted the majority of his recent career to injecting purpose via philanthropy to his sales and marketing efforts. He’s intent on making the world a better place, and his nirvana exists at the intersection of Mission, Passion, Profession and Vocation. He loves the outdoors and seeks memorable experiences whenever possible. Contact him at roger@socialgoodpromotions.com or (810) 986-5369.
Melissa Marks has been with Shumsky and Boost Engagement for more than 12 years, most recently serving as senior marketing manager leading the marketing and design team. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University and is a lifelong resident of Dayton, where she resides with her husband and two children.
Ford Bowers is the CEO of PRINTING United Alliance.
Alex Morin is energy. He's the owner of Promonoise (an educational company), Almost Enlightened (a podcast and coaching business), Working Writers Co. (a writing/coaching business) and other ventures in the wellness/self-help realm. His mission is to learn, grow and share, all in the spirit of love and awareness. Alex moves his energy/self through music, sports, cooking, writing and traveling. He's married, has three children and cherishes the journey of life.
Bill Farquharson is a respected industry expert and highly sought after speaker known for his energetic and entertaining presentations. Bill engages his audiences with wit and wisdom earned as a 40-year print sales veteran while teaching new ideas for solving classic sales challenges. Email him at bill@salesvault.pro or call (781) 934-7036. Bill’s two books, The 25 Best Print Sales Tips Ever and Who’s Making Money at Digital/Inkjet Printing…and How? as well as information on his new subscription-based website, The Sales Vault, are available at salesvault.pro.
Bill has over 20 years working in executive leadership positions at leading promotional products companies, always working collaboratively to achieve the “wow” desired by the target audience.
A Managing Partner at brandivate, a full-service marketing services and advertising agency, Bill is featured speaker at numerous national and international events, a serial creator of content marketing, and co-host of the industry-leading podcast, Promo UPFront. Bill has extensive experience defining brand strategy, creating successful marketing campaigns, creating and developing winning RFP responses, and presenting winning promotional products solutions to Fortune 500 clients.
A fierce advocate for the Promotional Products Industry, he is the Immediate Past President of the Regional Association Council (RAC) board, has worked closely with senior leadership at Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) on many committees and work groups. In appreciation of his years of service to the promotional products industry, Bill was named as an inaugural PPAI Fellow—a program designed to recognize influential individuals who have actively supported the industry through personal involvement.
Bill lives in Franklin, TN with his wife of 26 years, Sandy, and their 17-year-old twin boys, Drew and Mitch.
Mike Philie leverages his 28 years of direct industry experience in sales, sales management and executive leadership to share what’s working for companies today and how to safely transform your business. Since 2007, he has been providing consulting services to privately held printing and mailing companies across North America.
Mike provides strategy and insight to owners and CEOs in the graphic communications industry by providing direct and realistic assessments, not being afraid to voice the unpopular opinion, and helping leaders navigate change through a common sense and practical approach.
Pat is currently executive vice president of sales at Boundless. Prior to joining Boundless, Pat was vice president of sales for Toppers, a Top 20 industry supplier. Prior to Toppers, he served as vice president of national accounts for Norwood Promotional Products, one of the largest promotional products suppliers in the industry. In his free time, Pat enjoys drinking a cool beverage while attempting to play golf.
Joseph P. Truncale, Ph.D., CAE, is the Founder and Principal of Alexander Joseph Associates, a privately held consultancy specializing in executive business advisory services with clients throughout the graphic communications industry.
Joe spent 30 years with NAPL, including 11 years as President and CEO. He is an adjunct professor at NYU teaching graduate courses in Executive Leadership; Financial Management and Analysis; Finance for Marketing Decisions; and Leadership: The C Suite Perspective. He may be reached at Joe@ajstrategy.com. Phone or text: (201) 394-8160.
Philip Beyer, founder/president of Ebiz Products LLC and founder of Beyer Printing Inc. in Nashville Tenn., is a chronic entrepreneur, business systems analyst and consultant. Author of "System Busters: How to Stop Them in Your Business" and recipient of an InterTech Technology Award for the design and development of System100 business process management software. Beyer speaks to business owners across the country on how to bring lean, sustainable order to their businesses. Contact him at (615) 425-2652.
Many printing companies are frustrated how hard it is to engage buyers in today’s world. That’s where Matthew Parker can help. He is a gamekeeper turned poacher. Parker has bought print for more than 20 years and received over 1,400 print sales pitches. He now uses his buyer’s point of view to give practical advice to printers. He helps them engage with prospects and customers to create profitable relationships.
Download his free e-book, "Ten Common Print Selling Errors And What To Do About Them" and check out his recently launched book, "How To Succeed At Print Sales: Setting targets, planning the right activities and making sure goals are met."
Jason Lucash is the founder of Origaudio and former chief development officer for HPG. He has spent the last 13 years in the promotional products industry, changing the way the industry goes to market by creating hundreds of revolutionary products that have won countless industry awards and accolades.
Gloria Lafont is a mother, grandmother and business owner. Throughout her business career she has started, bought and sold a dozen businesses in the branding and marketing field, including a distributor company. She’s currently president of Action Marketing Co., founded in 2007. Her company focuses on helping distributors increase visibility, generate awareness and drive traffic so they can connect with more of their ideal clients and generate more leads and sales.
Gloria is a big fan and supporter of education and the cultural arts, volunteering her time and donating marketing support over the years to help various organizations grow in membership and revenue. She also enjoys the South Florida lifestyle mix of business, beaches and arts.
Harriet Gatter is an independent accounting and order management consultant serving only ad specialty distributors. Her specialty is QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online: getting started; migrating from QB Desktop to Online; converting from other order management; and accounting systems, including manual spreadsheets, restarting QuickBooks files that have gone rogue, and training distributors to use their new system. (She was also a distributor for 23 years.)
David Regan is the CEO of the Semper Group, including the nation’s largest and most trusted supplier of skilled staff for the print, premedia, graphic and interactive media industry, Printstaff International and Semper PT. With over 20 years of service, David and the Semper group team have placed more than 60,000 team members in top companies from Staples and Jack Morton, as well as small and mid-sized companies.
John Morris is executive director of brand for Club Colors and host of the “In the Club” podcast. He has 20-plus years in sales, marketing, branding and communications, and is currently focused on building the Club Colors brand, media presence, communications style, messaging and culture to drive internal success and external awareness. Reach him at jmorris@clubcolors.com.
Dan Marx, Content Director for Wide-Format Impressions, holds extensive knowledge of the graphic communications industry, resulting from his more than three decades working closely with business owners, equipment and materials developers, and thought leaders.
Denise Gustavson is the Editorial Director and Special Projects Editor for the Printing & Packaging Group, which includes Printing Impressions, packagePRINTING, In-plant Graphics and Wide-Format Impressions magazines, among other brands. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of Wide-Format Impressions.
Toni McQuilken is the senior editor for the printing and packaging group.
Brendan Menapace is the content director for Promo+Promo Marketing.
Jeremy Picker is the creative director and CEO at AMB3R Creative, a Colorado-based apparel design firm. He has over 20 years experience in the fashion industry and brings a depth of knowledge in custom design, screen printing, embroidery, applique, finishing and promotional products. Jeremy has helped numerous brands launch and grow, and has managed merchandise for major label bands. He is also passionate about creating retail quality for the nonprofit sector to fuel fundraising efforts and expand awareness. He is a cancer survivor and a co-founder of ESTAINE, a high-end accessory line to support cancer education.
Wes Friesen is a proven leader and developer of high performing teams and has extensive experience in both the corporate and non-profit worlds. A former in-plant manager, he is also an award-winning university instructor and speaker, and is the president of Solomon Training and Development, which provides leadership, management and team building training. His book, Your Team Can Soar! contains 42 valuable lessons that will inspire you, and give you practical pointers to help you—and your team—soar to new heights of performance. Your Team Can Soar! can be ordered from Xulonpress.com/bookstore or wesfriesen.com. Wes can be contacted at wesmfriesen@gmail.com.
Harriet Gatter, owner of Accounting Support LLC, was an ad specialty distributor for 23 years and an adjunct professor of accounting at Neumann University. She sold her ad specialty business in 2012, became certified as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and now works exclusively with ad specialty distributors nationwide on their QuickBooks, order management and accounting needs.
Linda Bishop is the founder and president of Thought Transformation, a national sales and marketing consulting group helping printers and other companies achieve top-line growth through a combination of strategies, tools, training and tactics.
Her expertise includes all aspects of outbound selling and account acquisition, account retention and development, solution selling, marketing, and aligning sales processes with marketing strategies. Most recently, she published The ChatGPT Sales Playbook: Revolutionizing Sales with AI and believes AI will offer sales pros new tools for achieving revenue goals.
Before starting Thought Transformation in 2004, Linda sold commercial printing for seventeen years, working as a commission salesperson for the Atlanta division of RR Donnelley Company. She was one of the top performers in the Atlanta marketplace and had annual sales exceeding $9 million.
Linda has a BS degree in accounting from Purdue University and an MBA in marketing from Georgia State. She has written several books on sales topics, speaks nationally on sales and marketing, and has published many articles.
Adriane Harrison is Vice President, Human Relations Consulting at PRINTING United Alliance. Adriane assists members with a wide variety of HR matters involving statutes, regulations, policies, procedures, culture, and staffing, as well as the gamut of day-to-day HR issues. In addition, she supports professional development by conducting webinars, participating in panel discussions, and speaking at industry events on human resources issues. Currently, Adriane is the Chairperson of the Graphic Communications Workforce Coalition, a member of the Women in Print Alliance, and a founder of the Women’s Print Mentoring Network.
Adriane received a journalism degree from the University of Illinois and a law degree from DePaul University in Chicago. As an attorney, Adriane practiced in both the public and private sectors. Her work was in the areas of Constitutional, commercial, securities, and criminal law. Adriane and her family live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Bob Saunders is vice president of Wise, a manufacturer of traditional forms, tags and labels, and digital printing solutions to the reseller market.
Kathi Rowzie is the President of Two Sides North America.
Ashley Roberts is the Managing Editor of the Printing & Packaging Group.
Summer Gould is Account Executive at Neyenesch Printers. Summer has spent her 31 year career helping clients achieve better marketing results. She has served as a panel speaker for the Association of Marketing Service Providers conferences. She is active in several industry organizations and she is a board member for Printing Industries Association San Diego, as well as the industry chair for San Diego Postal Customer Council. You can find her at Neyenesch’s website: neyenesch.com, email: summer@neyenesch.com, on LinkedIn, or on Twitter @sumgould.
In 2001, Roger Gimbel founded Gimbel & Associates, an international consulting firm providing business and market development services, skills training, and expert public speaking in the graphic communications and digital solutions industry. The mission of Gimbel & Associates is to help clients identify new business opportunities and implement leading-edge solutions using expertise in organizational development, technology selection, implementation, and work processes.
Roger oversees a team of Consultants with expertise in sales training, workflow analysis, MicroModeling, multichannel marketing, marketing plans, transactional printing, trans-promotional applications and creative strategies for mergers and acquisitions, business development workshops and seminars.
Andrew D. Paparozzi joined PRINTING United Alliance as Chief Economist in 2018. He analyzes and reports on economic, technological, social and demographic trends that will define the printing industry’s future. His most important responsibility, however, is being an observer of the industry by listening to the issues and concerns of company owners, executives and managers.Previously, he worked 31 years at the National Association for Printing Leadership. He has also taught mathematics, statistics and economics at various colleges.Andrew holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics f rom Boston College and a Master’s degree in economics — with concentrations in econometrics and public finance — from Columbia University.
Kristine Shreve is the founder and CEO of Kristine Shreve Consulting. She is also the Director of Marketing and Outreach for Applique Getaway and Lynnie Pinnie. An advocate for women, Kristine is the creator and host of Women + Business, a weekly show that discusses being a woman and being in business and how those two states of being intersect. In 2019, Kristine founded the Women in Garment Decoration group on Facebook, which is now over 1,200 members strong. Kristine also has a long history of writing for industry publications and giving seminars and speaking on panels at industry trade shows. She can be found at www.kristineshreve.com.
Thomas Williams is a partner in New Direction Partners (NDP), the leading provider of advisory services for printing and packaging firms seeking growth and opportunity through mergers and acquisitions. NDP assists its clients by giving them expert guidance and peace of mind at every stage of the process of buying or selling a printing or packaging company. Services include representing selling shareholders; acquisition searches; valuation; capital formation and financing; and strategic planning. NDP’s partners have participated in more than 300 mergers and acquisitions since 1979. Collectively they possess more than 200 years of industry experience with transactions in aggregate exceeding $2 billion. For information, email info@newdirectionpartners.com
Bill Gillespie has been in the printing business for 48 years and has been in sales and marketing since 1978. He was formerly the COO of National Color Graphics, an internationally recognized commercial printer and EVP of Brown Industries, an international POP company. Bill has enjoyed business relationships with flagship brands including, but not limited to, Apple, Microsoft, Coca Cola, American Express, Nike, MGM, Home Depot, and Berkshire Hathaway. He is an expert in printing sales, having written more than $100,000,000 in personal business during his career. Currently, Bill consults with printing companies, equipment manufacturers, and software firms. He can be reached by email (bill@bill-gillespie.com) or by phone (770-757-5464).
Trish Witkowski is Chief Folding Fanatic at the online community foldfactory.com. She holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design and a master of science degree in Graphic Arts Publishing from Rochester Institute of Technology's School of Printing Management and Sciences (now the School of Print Media).
An award-winning designer, Trish held the position of creative director for a Baltimore-based agency for six years, and has taught design and desktop publishing at the college level. She has a specialized expertise in the area of folding and is the creator of the FOLDRite™ system, a 2004 GATF InterTech™ Technology Award winner.
Trish frequently publishes articles for graphic arts industry publications, and has written three books on the topic of folding: A Field Guide to Folding, Folding for the Graphic Arts: A Teacher's Handbook, and FOLD: The Professional's Guide to Folding.
Adam Tanaka is a seasoned founder and serial entrepreneur committed to making a positive impact through various creative ventures.
In 2004, Adam relocated to Nashville and secured a job with a merch company. Starting with an entry level position of scrubbing floors and cleaning screens, he worked his way up throughout the company. Armed with a wealth of knowledge, he decided to launch his printing business, focusing on collaboration and nurturing enduring relationships rather than pursuing a high volume of customers.
After a stint touring with a couple of bands, Adam took the leap by founding a screen printing company in 2008, right in the midst of the recession and with an overdrawn bank account.
In December of 2019, Adam sold the production arm of his company. Adam later established a baby and kids brand focused on childhood mental health awareness.
As a merch consultant and brand partner, Adam collaborates with corporations, outdoor brands, and creators, offering advice and guidance on improving and elevating their merch brand strategies.
Adam currently serves as a board member for The Educators’ Cooperative, a
communications committee member for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Advisory Council member for Nashville Thrives, and is an advisor and mentor for the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.