Jo-an Lantz, MAS, president and CEO of Lewiston, Maine-based distributor Geiger, has been named the 2020 Counselor Person of the Year by the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI). During her distinguished career in the promotional products industry, Lantz has served on the PPAI Board of Directors, including a term as board president, helped found the PPAI Women's Leadership Conference and was inducted into the PPAI Hall Of Fame in 2009. She has previously been named as ASI’s Woman of Distinction and International Person of the Year.

Lantz began working at Geiger directly after college in an entry-level position and has moved up through progressively higher levels of authority, most recently being named as the first non-family CEO and president in 2019. A respected, forward-thinking and caring leader, Lantz enthusiastically shares her knowledge, experience and time with anyone who asks—whether inside the company, the industry or her community.

“I never think I have to work. I always think about the privilege that I get to work,” Lantz says. “I truly love what I do and the people I’m with. I find them very motivating.”

When asked about his decision to name Lantz as the first woman and non-family president and CEO of Geiger, Gene Geiger, MAS+, Geiger’s chairman of the board and former president and CEO, says, “I’ve worked with Jo-an for more than 40 years, during much of which she was my right hand, my partner. I couldn’t have chosen a more capable successor.”

At the 2020 Counselor Awards, ASI President and CEO Tim Andrews said, “Jo-an’s transparent, which she proved repeatedly throughout the crisis during her weekly videos for employees. She’s a strategic business thinker, recognizing earlier than most that business is international and conducted in a global economy, and she’s super smart, making her an ideal leader during times of great prosperity and in times of great uncertainty.”