89 / 118
horses; I grew up riding horses
every day and have always had
a tremendous love for animals,”
says Fredericks.
Read on to learn more about
a day in Fredericks’s life at
Moderne Glass Co.
How long have you
served as senior VP of
sales andmarketing?
My focus for the majority of
my career at Moderne Glass
was in recruitment, training
and management of sales
and service. I have an MBA in
marketing and management,
so I spent a lot of time with our
marketing department helping
with catalog and literature
development. When the position
of VP of sales and marketing
became available in 2009, it was
a natural transition.
How does this job
challenge you?
Every day is different so it
keeps us all on our toes. As a
supplier, we are often faced
with “needed it yesterday,” and
of course our goal is to always
accommodate. We have an
amazing operations team, so
they always do their best to make
things happen.
What changes or
improvements
have you recently
implemented, or are
you planning tomake
in the future?
Moderne introduced a new
website at the beginning of
the year with features such
as advanced product search,
mobile friendly, improved virtual
proofs and the ability to “save as”
projects for presentations, online
ordering, plus much more.
From a sales perspective, I am
especially excited about the “My
Projects” feature and how it can
be utilized to help grow sales and
collaborate more effectively.
What do you love
about your company?
The people are what I love
most about Moderne. We have
a lot of longevity, so there are
people I have worked with for
almost 30 years.
Describe your
office atmosphere.
Our office atmosphere is fun
and playful, but hard-working.
Although we all carry a heavy
workload, we always take the time
to celebrate birthdays, holidays
and special events in each other’s
lives. We always give back and
support several organizations
such as the American Cancer
Society, Wounded Warriors,
Humane Society, Education
Partnership, and the Salvation
Army (Treasures for Children).
What kinds of projects
or tasks might you
tackle on a given day?
Every day is different. Some
weeks I am in the office and other
weeks I amon the road, attending
trade shows and other industry
events. When I am in the office, I
work withmy sales administrator
andmarketing director setting up
online and co-op programs for
customers, in addition to handling
large-quantity quote opportunities
and customer projects.
Howdoyoucollaborate
withco-workers?
Everymorning, managers
fromall departments meet to
review and discuss prior-day
inbound orders and production
schedules for the upcoming
month.This allows us to not
only discuss and prepare for
normal production, but also
to review and schedulemore
complicated or time-consuming
orders. Because we have
managers fromall departments
present, we also open the floor
for eachmanager to speak
to the rest of the group about
any pendingmatters relevant
to our company as a whole.
What makes your
company a valuable
member of the
promotional products
community?
Next year, Moderne will
celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Many of the big players that
sold drinkware when I started
almost 30 years ago, like Houze
Glass and Victor Marsh/Galaxy,
are no longer in business. We
have stood the test of time, and
some of our more profound
achievements include:
• Developing and patenting
exclusive, award-winning
glass designs with two of the
largest glass producers in
the world, Libbey Glass and
ARC International;
• Collaborating with the
FDA to reconsider and
ultimately reverse regulations
that inhibited drinkware
suppliers’ ability to continue
to offer and decorate
staple drinkware items
offered in the promotional
products industry;
• Pioneering many decorating
techniques that have
since been adopted by
the industry.
|
MAY 2017
|
89
CONNECT