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The Announcement Of Paul Bellantone, CAE, As PPAI’s Incoming President And CEO
Editor’s Note: In June, PPAI announced that its Board of Directors, after an active national search of industry and association executive candidates, named Paul Bellantone, CAE, as president and chief executive officer. Members from across the industry sent in their congratulations and best wishes.

Congratulations, Paul, for this well-deserved promotion, and congratulations to the board for making a wise and well-thought-out decision. I am confident that under Paul’s leadership our Association will continue to grow and flourish. Kudos to all involved.
Margie Price, MAS
President
Premiums Plus Inc.
St. Louis, Missouri
UPIC: PREMPLUS

Paul, congratulations and an outstanding choice. The example you set on a daily basis is inspiring and will lend itself to a great supporting staff that is already moving forward to ensure PPAI is at the forefront on the things our industry needs to be doing.
Jim Franklyn
Vice President of Sales and Marketing/Partner
InkHead
Winder, Georgia
UPIC: InkHead

When I heard Steve was retiring, my hope was that the board would make the right decision. And it has, with the right man at the right time. Let me know if I can be of assistance at any time, and I look forward to seeing you soon. Congratulations and well-deserved, my friend!
Les Dorfman, CAS
Vice President of Sales
Visions/Awardcraft/AITG
Celina, Ohio
UPIC: VISIONS

Congratulations, Paul, and thank you for your dedication to our Association. You and our members have some great staff at PPAI and many supporting volunteer leaders to help in the journey.
Mark Shinn, MAS
President
Incentives West
Newcastle, Washington
UPIC: IDEAWEST

Congratulations to the board and search committee. This is a fabulous choice. I certainly look forward to working with Paul and everyone at PPAI going forward.
Michele Jennrich, MAS
Sales Representative
Morris Plains, New Jersey

It is refreshing to see that our international organization listens to its members and has the courage and strength to reverse its earlier decision regarding the end-user show based on feedback received from its members. I applaud you for this move.
Joseph Miller
Founding Partner
AiA LogoTools, Inc.
Coral Springs, Florida
UPIC: Logotool

Conversations with our clients confirm that the board made a wise, concerned decision and avoided a ground-swell of public opposition by revoking what turned out to be a threatening decision. Whatever the next couple of years bring in discussion and consideration, I congratulate you and the board on being good listeners. Listening is what distinguishes quality distributorships. Kudos for a hard decision: first to include end buyers and then for the courage to publicly change your mind.
Marsha Londe
Co-Owner
Tango Partners
Atlanta, Georgia
UPIC: TangoP

I believe in the power of promotional products to educate and motivate people to change their behavior, and the need for government agencies to communicate, recruit, recognize and reward is no different than the private sector. Promotional products are one of the most powerful tools any agency, institution or company has to motivate people to change. I will gladly sell to all levels of government.

For example, if everyone was knowledgeable about the function of the U.S. Census Bureau and complied voluntarily, on time and completely, then its need for promotional products might go away. However, we know newspaper readership is down and there are many misconceptions about what the Census Bureau does. It still needs effective PR and promotions to motivate people to complete their worksheets.

I am proud to be a part of the promotional products industry.
William Turney, MAS
Executive Vice President
Augusta Promotional Products
Houston, Texas
UPIC: AUGUSTA

Member Service, Above And Beyond
I called PPAI to ask about purchasing updated Pantone guides because I couldn’t find a color in the guides I have, and I assumed it must be one of the newer colors. I was hoping to find out if the missing color was included before purchasing a new guide. Judy Darwin [PPAI’s professional development assistant] checked the guide she had at her desk, and it didn’t contain the color.

I think most people would have stopped here. Instead, Judy offered to check a different guide and call me back with the information. I didn’t expect a return call to happen so quickly, but Judy called back right away to let me know that she found the color in my existing guide, but it was in a section different than where I had been looking. Even my client didn’t know his artist had selected a neon color.

Here’s why I think the exchange is unusual: I believe many people would have either assumed the color was new, as I had, and simply sold me a new guide. Or they might have checked the guide they had on hand, but not bothered to go hunting around. Rather than just completing a transaction, Judy did everything she could to resolve my real problem: Where’s the color? Now that’s customer service.

As always, I appreciate the extra efforts from the team at PPAI. Thank you to Judy for her super service and for listening so carefully.
Isa Cocallas
Owner
3Koi
Kihei, Hawaii
UPIC: 3KOI