IMA President Sean Roark presents Pete Mitchell with the association's 2017 President's Award.

At its annual summit this week in Orlando, Florida, the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) honored two members for their accomplishments. Brian Dunne, CPIM, managing director at Giftcard Consulting, was presented with the Karen Renk Fellowship Award, while Pete Mitchell received the 2017 IMA President’s Award.

The Karen Renk Fellowship Award was established in 2014 to honor the late Renk, who served as the IMA executive director for its first 14 years, and is awarded to the IMA member who best exemplifies Renk’s qualities of mentoring, character, collaboration, and professionalism in service to the association, either through work within the organization or through outreach to the community at large.

Brian Dunne

Dunne was recognized for championing the IMA and the incentive industry. He is a frequent speaker on gift cards, loyalty, incentives and motivation. Dunne was a leader in establishing and growing the IMA Europe Chapter, where he served as president of IMA Europe for eight years. In 2016 he was instrumental in spearheading the transition from a Strategic Industry Group to a chapter of the IMA which has served as the catalyst for the IMA Europe’s recent growth and success. Dunne also served on the IMA Board of Directors.

“Brian’s contributions, his leadership and mentoring approach are exactly what Karen Renk valued and demonstrated daily,” said Spencer Toomey, CPIM, president emeritus, IMA Board, in a release. “Brian has given the IMA and the industry enormous amounts of time and energy that have helped move the industry forward in Europe and the US. He truly is an incentive ambassador and he engages people everywhere he goes,” Toomey added.

Dunne becomes the third recipient of the Karen Renk Award. Sean Roark, CPIM, vice president incentive programs, PromoPros/IncentPros, received the first Karen Renk Fellowship Award in 2015 and Heidi Chatfield, VP marketing, All Star Incentive Marketing, received the 2016 award.

The IMA President’s Award recognizes individuals who have actively furthered IMA’s mission to create a greater awareness of incentives, help incentive suppliers prosper in a changing business environment through education, training, research and marketing; and through example, promote high standards of professionalism in the incentive field.

Mitchell, also a past president of the Incentive Manufacturers Representatives Alliance (IMRA), facilitated the Special Markets Dialogues for 10 years. The Dialogues allowed manufacturers and reps to meet annually to discuss issues affecting them. Mitchell revamped, expanded and grew incentive programs for many companies at a time when the industry itself was just starting to grow. He also created and operated several businesses before landing at Samsonite.

In presenting the award, IMA President Sean Roark praised Mitchell for his humor, wisdom and insights. He says, “Most of us have a small group of significant people in our lives that we consider to have been a pivotal force in our personal or professional evolution. More people hold Pete in this high regard than anyone else I know.”