PPB October 2017

CONNECT Charles Duggan, MAS+, andBill Lazarus Named PPAI Distinguished Service AwardHonorees For 2018 Charles Duggan, MAS+, and William “Bill” Lazarus have been selected as the 2018 PPAI Distinguished Service Award honorees. The award recognizes PPAI members who consistently contribute their skills and expertise toward the betterment of the Association through volunteer service and leadership. Duggan is the national and strategic key accounts manager, West, for San Diego, California-based supplier Goldstar. Lazarus is owner and vice president of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, distributor Promotional Breezes. “Charles and Bill are well-respected industry leaders and dedicated volunteers,” says Paul Bellantone, CAE, PPAI president and CEO. “They have both demonstrated a lifelong professional and personal commitment to the betterment of their communities and the promotional products industry. Their giving back through participation in countless advisory groups and committees has benefited us all, and increased the profile of the industry.” Duggan is a former member of the PPAI Board of Directors, serving from 2009 to 2013. While on the board, he served on its Budget & Finance, Executive and Board Nomination committees, and was involved in several of the Association’s volunteer committees and action groups, including the Distributors and Membership Services Committees; the Marketing Information and Research, Public Relations, Product Responsibility and Professional Development Action Groups; and the MAS/CAS Certification Board. He also served on PPAI’s Global Task Force and Leadership Advisory Committee. He is a regular speaker at PPAI and regional association education programs, and is an active member of the Promotional Products Association of the Midwest, including serving on its board as president in 2015. “Charles represents the value associated with volunteers,” says Bruce Felber, MAS, his nominator. “He has given of himself volunteer service and leadership, and his relationship with PPAI spans 25 years. He served two terms on the PPAI Board of Directors, from 1997 to 2002 and from 2008 to 2011, and led it as chair in 2000. He served on the International Committee from 2002 to 2006 and was chair from 2004 to 2006. He was also a member of the Strategic Planning Committee from 1997 to 2002 and the Events Action Group from 1993 to 1997, and served as chair from 1995 to 1997. In addition, Woods served on the Promotional Products Education Foundation (PPEF) Board of Trustees from 2005 to 2009. Janelle Nevins began her career in education and discovered the promotional products industry while on maternity leave. She started working part-time at a marketing business owned by her husband and her father-in-law, and her 34-year career in the industry grew from there. Nevins landed Coca-Cola as a client with a cold call, launching her love for the industry. Coca-Cola became her most prestigious and largest account, with Nevins serving as a liaison between its field and corporate offices. In the following decades, Nevins Marketing Group grew into a prominent Atlanta- area presence in the promotional products industry, and later became a part of the Summit Group. An active member of the promotional products industry’s trade associations, Nevins served on the PPAI Board of Directors from 2003 to 2006, as well as on a number of the Association’s committees and councils. She served on the Public Relations Committee, the PPAI Centennial Committee, the Conventions Advisory Council, the Public Relations Advisory Council and the Distributors Advisory Council. Outside of PPAI, she was active in the Georgia Association of Promotional Products (GAPPP) and joined its board in 2000. Nevins was named the ASI Person of the Year in 1998 and the Counselor Person of the Year in 1999, and was a founder of the PeerNet Group, an alliance of promotional products and marketing distributors. Nevins passed away in August 2012 after a long illness. In 2013, she was honored posthumously as a recipient of the PPAI Woman of Achievement Award, and in 2016 was the first inductee to the Georgia Association Of Promotional Products Professionals (GAPPP) Hall of Fame. Induction into the PPAI Hall of Fame reflects the legacies of Woods and Nevins, and their contributions to the promotional products industry and their communities. Their induction ceremony will take place during the Chairman’s Leadership Dinner on January 15, 2018, at The PPAI Expo in Las Vegas. Read more about them in PPB ’s January issue. Charles Duggan, MAS+ Janelle Nevins 96 | OCTOBER 2017 |