PPB September 2018

FEATURE | Rising Stars His Inspiration On a personal level, my mom. She has had to face some adversity in life and has never lost her sense of humor. I like to think that my style of customer service, my demeanor and how I handle new challenges come from her. At work, Mark and Catherine Graham are big inspirations. Mark is incredibly forward-thinking—always pushing the envelope and working to be 10 steps ahead of everyone else. Catherine is a fantastic leader, does everything she can to help people excel at their position and is a fountain of business knowledge. Oh, and LeBron James. I mean, he’s an insane athlete, but if you don’t know anything about his personal life or charity contributions, check them out. Best Advice If you are a distributor, get to know your clients. In my experience dealing with hundreds of distributorships, the ones who are the most successful are those with great client relationships. Learn who your clients are and try to give them a great experience and sell them products they’ll be proud of. The difference isn’t the price you give, it is the relationship you have. ChangesHe’dLike To See I would love to see the industry put more emphasis on technology. I find it incredible that this multibillion-dollar industry is so far behind on tech. There are so many inefficiencies in suppliers’ and distributors’ daily processes, and in communicating with each other, and I think it stems from lack of technology. I’d [also] like to see the younger generation get involved in leadership roles. Companies (and people in general) get stuck in the way things are because “this is how we have always done it.” I really believe with an industry as old as this it could benefit from new perspectives on how things are done. Aaron Kucherawy, 32 Manager Of Customer Service commonsku “A aron represents all of the qualities our industry wants to be associated with for the future— he’s forward thinking, committed to an excellent client experience and thinks strategically about how our medium plays a role in the advertising mix,” says nominator Mark Graham, chief platform officer at commonsku. “Aaron is also deeply involved in the strategic planning at commonsku and works alongside the executive team to improve the product as well as how we position ourselves in the market.” Graham adds that Kucherawy’s two defining characteristics are humor and patience— both vital skills that were tested recently while onboarding a 20-person distributor that moved to commonsku from a legacy software platform. “Aaron single-handedly walked them through the new processes and spent time with each department to make sure that everyone was comfortable with the change,” Graham explains, adding that he gets frequent customer compliments about his young employee. Kucherawy, who has a degree in psychology, was working as a customer service rep at a rental car agency before joining the Toronto-based business services company three years ago. Since then, he’s mastered his knowledge of the commonsku platform and become proficient in how the promotional products industry works. “In addition, he had to learn to work with distributors in a very senior capacity … right from the start, he was dealing with distributor principals at a very high level,” says Graham. “This was a remarkable achievement for a young employee without any background in the promotional industry.” 38 | SEPTEMBER 2018 |