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PPB
• SEPTEMBER 2015
THINK
LENNARSON HAS HELD A HOST of volunteer leadership
positions on numerous industry task forces and committees. Of all
Lennarson’s accomplishments, perhaps her most far-reaching achieve-
ment is the instrumental role she played in the formation of PPAI’s
Government Relations Action Council in 2009.
“Sherri could be considered the mother of PPAI’s legislative
movement,” says Margie Price, MAS, owner of distributor Premiums
Plus Incorporated. “Today we have representatives of every state visit
Washington, D.C. annually to meet with their elected officials during
Legislative Education Action Day. Her initial visits in Iowa have had
an incredible effect on the way we do business and how we communi-
cate with our legislatures.”
Teresa Moisant, MAS, owner of distributor Moisant Promotional
Products, and Maribeth Sandford, MAS, owner of supplier BAG
MAKERS, Inc., nominated Lennarson for the 2015 PPAI Woman of
Achievement Award.
“Sherri is the ultimate teacher,” Moisant says of Lennarson. “She
shares her knowledge. When answers aren't there, she immediately
goes the extra mile to secure the information for the group. Sherri, like
so many teachers, does not seek the credit. She wants her students and
counterparts to shine. I personally have benefitted from the knowledge
she shared.”
Bruce Perryman, MAS+, president of Embroidery Unlimited, Inc.,
met Lennarson at a PPAI Leadership Development workshop, and
their paths crossed again when he became a member of the PPAI
board. “Sherri is an advocate for our profession, a successful business
woman and a very compassionate human being, evidenced by her
appetite for volunteering,” he says. “Her energy was constant as she
was deeply committed to do what was necessary to lead the board and
benefit the association she represented.”
LESSONS LEARNED
Lennarson’s career in the promotional products industry began in the
1980s, at a time when there were fewer women in the industry.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from
Arizona State University in 1979, Lennarson spent her first year out
of school as a traveling graduate consultant for the national fraternity
Pi Beta Phi. She then came home to Iowa, where her family lives, and
knew she needed a job. When she realized her local school district was
“closed,” she took a position for minimum wage at a dentist’s office
where she performed administrative work and, most importantly, met
her future husband.
But fate had other plans for Lennarson, whose introduction to the
promotional products industry came in the form of a chance
encounter with Bill Bywater, then president and currently chairman of
Iowa City, Iowa, distributor Bankers Advertising (UPIC: BACADV).
The two met each other while sitting side by side on a plane flight.
About a year after the chance encounter, Lennarson got a call
from Bywater, who remembered their conversation during that plane
flight.
“Apparently I made an impression on him because he said he
wanted to offer me a position as executive assistant to the president,”
Lennarson recalls. “Certainly that experience emphasized for me the
importance of a first impression.”
Lennarson joined Bankers Advertising Company as the executive
assistant to the president in 1981, and she continued to advance in
responsibility and titles. By 2003, she was named president of the
company.
“I was very lucky to have not only a mentor but a rabbi in Bill
Bywater,” Lennarson says. “I learned in my early career the importance
of supporting folks out in the field. Everything revolves around the
sale; no matter what position you have in the company, everybody
needs to remember that.”
Lennarson says she learned important lessons while moving up the
ranks at Bankers.
“I learned the importance of understanding what motivates each
individual and how best to fulfill their needs,” Lennarson says. “I
learned to concentrate on others and recognize what their goals were.
This was what really enabled me to grow and prosper because as the
people I worked with prospered, so did I.”
With her background in education, Lennarson approached the
promotional products industry as a student hungry to learn. She lever-
aged her love of learning by asking lots of questions and building her
industry knowledge step by step.
“I learned the importance of great communication because as a
distributor you’re that party in the middle who puts everything togeth-
er,” she says. “In our industry, I think you have to really know and
understand two things—the importance of attention to detail and hav-
ing a sense of urgency. That’s even more critical today because every-
body wants something yesterday.”
As she blossomed into the savvy industry professional she is today,
Lennarson developed her own personal motto: Having fun and getting
things done. “I really feel if you’re not having fun, then get out,” she
“You never know when a casual
conversation could lead to
something life-changing.”
—SHERRI C. LENNARSON, MAS,
OWNER, HAVING FUN PROMOTIONS