Chuck Fandos has closed a chapter in his life—he has retired as a distributor after 30 years in the business. He will remain in the industry as CEO at his business services company, Facilisgroup (PPAI 493664).

Fandos became US CEO for distributor Brand Addition when it acquired his distributor company Gateway CDI in January 2016. His two-year contract with Brand Addition expired at the end of 2017. Fandos will continue to consult with Brand Addition but will spend most of his time at Facilisgroup, which has headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri and in Ottawa, Canada.

Brand Addition marked the occasion of his retirement with a party for him last week in St. Louis.

He says that now he’ll have one job instead of two. He’s also planning to spend more time at his vacation home in Florida, but still expects to put in full days for the company. “With Facilis I can work from anywhere,” he says. “But now I can have a little more of a normal life and a better work/life balance.”

Fandos got into the industry when he opened Gateway Promotions in 1988. He later launched Facilisgroup to provide technology, business consulting and services for promotional products distributors.

He says Facilisgroup is continuing to grow and in December the company moved into its own space in downtown St. Louis, instead of sharing space with Brand Addition as it had been. He’s currently planning a meeting for 700 Facilisgroup members in St. Louis this summer.

“I’m retiring from being a distributor but I’m not leaving the industry,” he says. “I love it and have tons of great friends. I’m really lucky to have found this industry.”