PPB January 2018

PPAI 2018 Award Winners | FEATURE and for those who have been on the receiving end of his efforts.” Duggan has also taken his knowledge and experience directly to fellow industry members as a speaker at PPAI and regional events, presenter for online education and contributor to industry publications. “When someone tells me, ‘I was inspired by your presentation at Expo’—and they say it 10 years later, that is a memorable moment for me,” he says. The education Duggan has received from his volunteer leadership with PPAI has allowed him to contribute to the success of PPAM. “I was initially involved locally with my regional association,” he says. “Then I moved to PPAI involvement, and then back to regional volunteering. Being on the PPAI board, I learned to apply goals with actionable measures.” Being able to get a 30,000-foot view, says Duggan, and then applying it to tactical day-to-day strategies, helped him to put a structure in place that allowed each new class of association leaders to hit the ground running. Duggan has served on the PPAM board in several roles since 2010, including as president in 2015; most recently he was the association’s RAC delegate. Education is about professional and personal growth, and Duggan acknowledges that growing pains are a natural part of the process. As a volunteer leader, he has not shied away from participating in difficult decisions that were necessary for growth. “When I was on the PPAI board, we needed a new perspective on volunteer engagement,” he recalls. “I used the analogy of an implosion; we needed to implode our existing volunteer engagement model to make room for a new and better model.” Volunteer engagement is at the core of industry education, and Duggan believes a grassroots approach to building enthusiasm for both volunteering and learning can only make the industry and PPAI stronger. “The regional associations are in a challenging time right now; if a regional is in your back yard [27 regional associations operate in the U.S.], you should join it—the relationships you build there are valuable,” he says. “And we are in the relationship business. I think we can look at regionals as the grassroots effort to fill the pipeline for what PPAI needs. “Strong regionals make PPAI stronger because they become a pool for volunteers to serve on the national level,” he explains. “We are all part of the same industry, so service has to go both ways. We all have talents that our regionals can benefit from. It’s been said that we can all give something, whether it’s time, talent or treasures; there are lots of ways people can participate.” Duggan says he believes everymember of the industry has a responsibility to support their regional association in some formor another. “I think everyone should join whatever regional their business is close to.” His own efforts to build education opportunities for regional members were highlighted by nominator Dan Gittemeier, who became a member of PPAM at Duggan’s invitation. “As a PPAM board member, I watched Charles pursue—with enthusiasm—his responsibility to schedule quality webcasts that were relevant to distributors; to seek enhanced venues and participation in local shows; and afford distributors the opportunity to learn about the intricacies of our business. The industry is better off for Charles having spent his career within our ranks,” Gittemeier says. Duggan’s nominators are as quick to applaud his business success through customer service as they are his extensive volunteer service, but Duggan says the former is only the result of the latter. “My success has been the result of serving others,” he says. “When you give, the payback is priceless. You can’t put a dollar amount on it.” Jen Alexander is associate editor of PPB. Duggan, a fitness buff, poses in front of the Ironman banner, which includes his favorite quote: Anything is possible. | JANUARY 2018 | 39