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INNOVATE
28 •
PPB
• JANUARY 2016
FOR MANY, THE SECRET
to a happy life comes from
their service to others.
Among those who would
agree is this year’s PPAI
Distinguished Service Award
winner, Bruce Felber, MAS,
corporate brand specialist for
Holland, Ohio-based distribu-
tor The Image Group (UPIC:
IMAGEGRP). Surprisingly, his
30-plus years as an industry
volunteer started simply
because someone asked him
to help out.
“My brother, Robert, and
I were at the 1984 PPAI
Winter Show in Dallas and
someone asked if we would
stand by a door on Education
Day and hand out forms and
direct people,” he remem-
bers. The satisfaction of feel-
ing involved struck a chord
and Felber decided to take
the next step and get
involved with his regional
association, Specialty
Advertising Association of
Northern Ohio (now Ohio
Promotional Professionals
Association). One day, while
suggesting a few improve-
ments for the regional’s trade
show to friend and fellow
member Larry Wise, Felber
was asked, “Would you serve
as chair of the trade show?”
He took on that role and
found satisfaction in helping
to turn the show around.
From there, he set his sights
on running for the regional
board—and was elected. One
of his first goals was to
change the name of the asso-
ciation to reflect a broader
purpose, and over the next
17 years Felber served on the
OPPA board, twice as presi-
dent (in 1995 and 2001), and
spent five years as chair of
the education and the trade
show committees. In 2008, he
was honored with induction
into the OPPA Hall of Fame.
Like many industry profes-
sionals, Felber discovered the
industry by accident. His
father owned a company that
manufactured sample books
for the textile industry and, in
his teens and early 20s,
Felber worked for the compa-
ny on weekends and holi-
days. When his father passed
away suddenly in 1982,
Felber found himself running
the business. “It was a bad
time in the country,” he says.
“We had 150 people working
two shifts. We were getting
squeezed on pricing. The
family decided to sell the
business.”
He woke up that next
Monday morning and asked
himself, “Now what?” He had
graphic skills and knew how
to sell so he worked a lead
from a friend in the screen-
printing business and sold
100 leather binders. At that
point, he knew he was on to
something.
Felber discovered promo-
tional products suppliers in a
copy of
PPB
magazine and
over time built his book of
business and opened a dis-
tributorship. His brother
joined a few years later and
Felber & Felber was formed.
It was also at this point that
An Obsession
With Service
Bruce Felber, MAS, explains what fuels his avid volunteerism
BY TINA BERRES FILIPSKI
BELOW
Bruce Felber, MAS
,
and his wife,
Carol Moraco
,
make their home in Streetsboro,
Ohio. They are parents to two
grown daughters and a son.