is the supplier/distributor relationship? Or What is a multi-line rep or a business service provider? How do they integrate? How are products decorated? “These are all things that someone from the outside wouldn’t understand right away,” says Gibbons-Rauch. “From the outside looking in you can’t understand it, and from the inside looking out you can’t explain it.” PPAI’s long-term goal is to provide educational content through its certification portfolio that addresses anyone at any step in their career. Not All Of PPAI’s Board Started In Promo The PPAI Board of Directors is a group of individuals committed to steering the industry toward the future with focuses on sustainability, technology and a pursuit toward consistent growth. Anyone looking for proof that people who started their careers elsewhere are excelling in promo can be found in the current Board. Dan Pantano, alphabroder president and CEO and current PPAI Board member, joined the company in January 2013 after spending 20 years working for prominent healthcare businesses. Pantano’s first week in the industry coincided with The PPAI Expo – talk about trial by fire. He joined PPAI 100’s No. 2 supplier as president, leading the commercial side of the business. He played an integral role in multiple corporate acquisitions and became the company’s CEO in spring 2021. Even with multiple decades in healthcare, Pantano found promo to be right where he belongs. “Once you come into this industry, it’s really hard to leave,” Pantano says. “Hard to believe it’s almost been a decade.” On the other hand, it was a more circuitous route to promo for Pantano’s fellow PPAI Board member Zack Ottenstein, president of The Image Group. He graduated at the top of his class from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and began a career as a network TV reporter before New To Promo | Must Read transitioning into a role leading marketing for Welltower, a real estate investment company. Looking for a new entrepreneurial chapter in his life, he joined The Image Group in 2016. “I didn’t expect such a seamless experience,” Ottenstein says. “My role at Welltower focused on helping the company tell its story. Now, I focus on building The Image Group’s platform to help clients tell their stories.” Now at the helm of PPAI 100’s No. 57 distributor, Ottenstein is further proof of a quality that makes the promotional products industry so continuously successful: By embracing those who are looking for a career shift, it continues to grow and evolve into something that keeps the entire community engaged. “Once you come into this industry, it’s really hard to leave.” —Dan Pantano Auping is a news editor at PPAI. PPAI • SEPTEMBER 2024 • 69
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzU4OQ==