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perspectives
Tina Berres Filipski
Editor
I
t’s no secret that I’m a magazine junkie.
It’s always been one of my favorite media.
One magazine I read is
O
, a women’s
lifestyle magazine published by Oprah
Winfrey. In every issue, she closes with a
column titled “What I Know For Sure.”
Years ago, in an interview, the late Gene
Siskel asked her, “What do you know for
sure?” She got flustered and couldn’t
answer—so she’s never stopped asking
herself that question.
With somany transformational changes
taking place in almost every facet of our world
today, and somuch uncertainty, answering
this question helps keepme grounded—
remindingme of the truths I can count on.
One thing I know for sure is that the future
of the promotional products industry is in
very good hands.This month, we introduce
you to the
PPB
2016 Rising Stars (see page
24), a dozen up-and-coming young leaders
who are working hard andmaking great
things happen in their companies and,
subsequently, across our industry. Last
month I had the privilege of introducing
10 of these very impressive young pros at
a presentation in their honor during the
opening dinner at PPAI’s North American
Leadership Conference in San Francisco. As
each one came to the stage to be recognized,
I thought about themany others who had
come before them.
Every year since 2010 we’ve devoted
a cover story to these watchable young
leaders—and in that time we’ve spotlighted
73 individuals fromcompanies across the
industry. I’ve continued to follow their
progress as they’ve been promoted, moved
tomore responsibility at another company,
started their own companies or volunteered
to serve in key leadership positions with PPAI
and their regional associations.
Brittany David, CAS, is an example. Always
an overachiever, she was named a
PPB
Rising Star in 2014. Last year she was tapped
to run for the PPAI Board of Directors and
was elected for a four-year term. In January
she begins her role as the board’s vice chair,
financial services. KimNewell is another who
was honored as a
PPB
Rising Star in 2010
and is currently serving on the PPAI board as
amember of the class of 2017. She was also
appointed to serve a year as board rep on the
Promotional Products Education Foundation
board. Her long-time leadership as president
of supplier WorldWide Lines, Inc. also
brought the companymore opportunities for
expansion when it was acquired by supplier
Gold Bond, Inc. two years ago.
Former Rising Star Marc Held has been
making strong career progress since he was
named to our list in 2012. Since then he’s
served on the PPAI Professional Development
Committee, been a PPAI board candidate
and was key in the transition when his then-
employer Bodek and Rhodes was acquired by
supplier alphabroder this past December. Just
a fewweeks ago hemade news again when he
stepped up to a new role as vice president at
Hit Promotional Products.
Distributor Emoff is lucky to have two
former Rising Stars on its roster—Jill Albers
andAnita Emoff—named to our list in 2015
and 2010, respectively. Jill continues to drive
powerful numbers in company sales while
Anita ran for the PPAI board in 2014 and has
taken onmore responsibility for the company’s
thriving Boost Technologies division. It has
been named twice to the list of top 50 fastest-
growing companies by theWomen President’s
Organization, and, in 2014, Anitawas named
to the
Dayton Business Journal
’s BizWomen’s
Power 50 List.
Former Rising Star Jessica Hutwelker,
MAS, who made our list last year,
is another who has taken on more
responsibility and significantly expanded
her involvement in the industry. She
has served on the PPAI Distributors
Committee, Government Relations
Advisory Council, NALC Work Group for
two years and has presented a number of
sessions at the PPAI Women’s Leadership
Conference in recent years. And, after
working in the industry as a distributor
for a number of years, she moved to
the supplier side to up her professional
growth exponentially.
I could go on about this self-motivated
and powerful group of young individuals
because they continue to impress me with
their vigorous dedication to their own growth
and commitment tomaking the industry
better tomorrow than it is today.The future
of our industry is indeed in good hands.This
is what I know for sure.
These Rising Stars Ensure A Bright Future
One thing I know for sure is that
the future of the promotional products
industry is in very good hands.
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SEPTEMBER 2016
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