PPB December 2018

McLeanMeets With Industry Companies In South Carolina PPAI Executive Vice President Bob McLean was on the road in October, visiting several industry suppliers in South Carolina. These visits were opportunities to tour the companies’ facilities, meet with staff and leadership, and learn more about how the Association can serve and support them. At Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-headquartered Pro Towels’ Abbeville facility, McLean met with Jennifer Reece (left), senior director of marketing, and Melissa Mason, human resource manager. Reece and Mason showed him around the almost 340,000-square-foot facility, where 150 staff members perform embroidery, screen printing and dye sublimation work for the company’s Pro Towels, Kanata Blankets and Superior Decorating brands. Distributor Hosts First Brand Camp For Buyers Dallas-based distributor Bob Lilly Promotions hosted its first Brand Camp customer show in October at Gilley’s Dallas, the DFW version of the Houston-based world-class entertainment venue. Bob Lilly Promotions’ four-hour show featured 32 supplier exhibitors and attracted an estimated 125 buyers from across the region. Texas Town Hall Illustrates Tariffs’ National Impact The nationwide campaign Tariffs Hurt The Heartland hosted a town hall meeting in Dallas, Texas, in October to discuss the impact the federal governments’ tariffs on steel, aluminum and Chinese imports are having on businesses in the state. Tariffs Hurt The Heartland is hosting similar town halls across the U.S. The campaign is supported by the coalitions Farmers For Free Trade and Americans For Free Trade, of which PPAI is a member. Anne Stone, the Association’s director of public affairs, attended the meeting in Dallas. Kat Thompson, CEO at Texas Ale Project, a local brewery where the town hall was held, shared how incremental increases on aluminum are affecting her bottom line and bringing other hardships to her operation. 112 | DECEMBER 2018 | CONNECT