North American Leadership Conference

Alan Meinstein is the CEO of Spector & Co., a leading supplier in the promotional products industry. With over two decades of experience spanning operations, manufacturing, and strategic planning, Alan brings a deep understanding of the industry’s complexities and opportunities. Prior to joining Spector & Co. as Chief Operating Officer in 2024, he held key leadership roles at Polyconcept North America, Omnify Lighting, and Wazo Furniture, consistently driving operational excellence and transformational growth.

From launching and selling his own decorating business to overseeing multi-site operations with over $80 million in revenue, Alan’s career is marked by innovation, strong team leadership, and a relentless pursuit of quality and efficiency.

Originally based in Toronto, Alan now calls Montreal home. He’s passionate about collaboration, continuous improvement, and creating a positive impact—both in the workplace and beyond.

Bennie F. Johnson is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Marketing Association (AMA). As the leading global professional marketing association, the AMA is the essential community for marketers. From students and practitioners to executives and academics, AMA aims to elevate the profession, deepen knowledge, and make a lasting impact. AMA’s vibrant community of marketers spans more than 70 chapters and has a presence on 350 college campuses across North America. AMA is home to award-winning content, PCM® professional certification, five premiere academic journals, and industry-leading live and virtual training events. Bennie is the host of AMA’s podcast, Marketing / And.

He most recently served as the Executive Director of AIGA, the largest professional association for design. AIGA grows the power of design as a professional craft, strategic advantage, business driver and catalyst for positive impact. While at AIGA, Bennie hosted the acclaimed Design Adjacent podcast and the design leadership fireside chat series from 2020 to 2022.

Currently, he serves on the Board of Overseers for Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies, and is a former Board Chair of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. Bennie is also a special advisor to the People’s Graphic Design Archive. He was recently named to the Board of the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC.

Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Bennie graduated from Yale University with a B.A. and from Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies with a M.S., Strategic Communications.

Brandon Mackay, MAS is an owner and CEO of SnugZ USA based in Salt Lake City, Utah. His laid back, employee-empowered leadership style has taken a small family business of six and transformed it into an industry powerhouse with over $90 million in annual sales and around 900 employees. Brandon has served on various boards, committees and work groups inside and outside the promotional products industry. He is Six-Sigma Lean Certified and is a strong advocate for process improvement and employee development.

Brandon currently resides in Utah with his wife of 30 years, Liz, their four children, 2 sons in laws, 1 daughter in law and one grandson, 3 grand-dogs and two dogs of their own. In his free time, you’ll find him outside enjoying all Utah has to offer from skiing, motocross, boating and watching his children do whatever they love. He’s passionate about life and an optimistic entrepreneur, Brandon enjoys the scenery ahead of him and the sun on his back.

About The Company
 

Since 1989, SnugZ has always been committed to providing an exceptional customer experience and producing high quality products for their customers.

Can you ask for both quality AND quantity promo gear, delivered at lightning speed? We’ve got you. For more than 3 decades, SnugZ USA has been quietly, steadfastly setting the benchmark for our craft.

We’re repping the American Dream—born in a dusty, cramped Utah attic in 1989, just 5 family members crafting eyewear retainers. 900+ employees later, our customers are still our top priority. And with every USA-made screen, fill, and stitch, our in-house team is pushing the boundaries of what promotional products can be. No matter how far we come, we’ll always live by our company values: Care Passionately, Work Like Crazy, Think Big, and Do What’s Right.

Catherine Graham is the CEO of commonsku, a workflow collaboration platform enabling more than 900 promotional products distributors to work seamlessly with clients and suppliers.  The platform was originally built in-house for Rightsleeve, a promotional products agency, where Catherine spent 12 years as President before selling the business in 2019.

Prior to her time in the industry, she worked in banking, completed an MBA and worked at eBay.  Her last role before joining the industry was as a management consultant at A.T. Kearney, working with Fortune 500 companies in a wide variety of areas including merger integration, marketing strategy and operational efficiencies.

Outside of work, Catherine is a mother to 3 and currently chairs the Board of PromoStandards and Communitech.

Chris Anderson joined HandStands in 2002.  At the time, HandStands was a 19-year-old manufacturer of computer accessories, with most of its revenue generated from the selling of mouse pads in the office products and promotional products channels

Chris led HandStands’ entrance into the automotive air freshener category in 2003; and, within eight years of selling its first car air freshener, HandStands had become the NPD, IRI and Nielsen US #1 market share leader in the highly competitive category.

In 2010, after serving in various leadership positions within the organization, Chris added the title of CEO to his existing role of HandStands President.

By 2016, HandStands revenue had grown more than 30 X the level when Chris joined the company, and its products were distributed in over 125 countries throughout the world.

In July of 2016, HandStands was sold to Energizer Holdings (the global battery and consumer products company).

In early 2017, Chris led the carve out of the “Legacy” HandStands Products’ Mouse Pad and Promotional Products business unit from Energizer.  The resulting stand-alone business continued to grow rapidly, culminating in its December 2018 acquisition by HPG –a leading hardgoods supplier in the North American Promotional Products Industry.

In the months following HandStands Products’ acquisition by HPG, Chris was named CEO of HPG, a role he continues to serve in today.

In addition to his role of CEO and Board Member of HPG, Chris currently serves on the boards of JB Weld (a leading manufacturer and marketer of branded adhesive products), Durham Brands (a fast-growing innovator in the branded girls and womens hair accessory category), Millburn & Co. (a real estate investment firm, with over $1.5 Billion in assets across the U.S., focusing on the multifamily housing sector), and the Westminster College Gore School of Business.

Chris is a Summa Cum Laude Economics graduate of Westminster College, and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife Jamie and their four children.  Outside of business, Chris enjoys spending time with his family and is an avid aviator.

Chris Anderson, PPAI Board Member and CEO at HPG joined the promotional products industry in 2002 with supplier HandStands.  He became president of the company in 2009 and CEO in 2010. Under his leadership, HandStands closed multiple acquisitions, including the sale of the business to HPG in 2018.   

Chris Barton, Founder and Creator of Shazam, wanted a way to identify songs anywhere he heard them. There wasn’t one – so he invented the app called Shazam. Chris seeks to delight people by using technology to make seemingly impossible ideas come to life. Shazam is just one of them. It changed the way the world discovers music and laid the groundwork for the consumer AI industry we know today. In addition to creating Shazam, Chris holds twelve patents and played key roles in the early days of Google and Dropbox.

Chris was a founding member of Google’s Android Partnerships team where he created Android’s mobile operator partnership framework. He also spent four years at Dropbox where he led carrier partnerships and was one of the first 100 people at the company.

Chris’s newest venture, Guard, aims to use AI to detect drowning in swimming pools – a never-before accomplished effort.

When he has time, Chris enjoys speaking at events and sharing lessons learned from his experiences overcoming the impossible. He inspires people with firsthand stories that highlight key take-aways across technology innovation, persistence, removing friction, and entrepreneurship. Chris gives audiences a new framework for making big things happen.

Prior to his technology career, Chris was a strategy consultant and earned two master’s degrees from UC Berkeley and Cambridge University.  When he isn’t working or speaking, you can find Chris enjoying the outdoors and spending time with his son, Jude.

Founding Partner, Chris Lamond, brings more than 25 years of experience in developing, managing and implementing government relations strategies to PPAI advocacy agency Thorn Run Partners, which ranks as a top 10 K Street lobbying firm. Formerly a U.S. Senate staffer and presidential campaign advisor, Lamond has built governmental relations career forging coalitions and representing corporate, non-profit and trade association clients before federal, state and local governments. 

C.J. joined Concord in 2010, and, as COO, helped grow Concord to a $50 million distributor prior to merging with Clayton Kendall in February.  Before joining Concord, C.J. helped lead Club Colors, a promotional products distributor, through two sales to private equity over 10 years.  C.J. earned a degree in Finance from the University of Notre Dame in 1990 and worked for Citicorp and KPMG before joining the promo industry.

Futurist, author, and Hall of Fame Speaker, Crystal Washington equips organizations with the knowledge they need to become “future-proof.” As a technology strategist and certified futurist, Crystal makes complex artificial intelligence, social media, and app technology easy to understand and accessible for everyday people.

Crystal’s clients include Fortune 100 companies, including Google, American Express, and Pfizer. As a sought-after keynote speaker, she has entertained and educated audiences around the globe.

As one of Forbes’ 50 Leading Female Futurists, she appears weekly on season two of the Emmy-nominated show Life 2.0. She’s also appeared in numerous publications, including Entrepreneur and Bloomberg Businessweek, and major television networks regularly call on her as a tech expert.

Crystal is the author of One Tech Action and The Social Media Why.

Denise Taschereau, Co-Founder and CEO at Fairware launched the company after realizing how difficult it was to source promotional merchandise that reflected the social and environmental priorities of many of the brands and organizations she admired. She is currently a board member of PromoCares, and is PPAI’s Board Chair.

Drew Holmgreen was announced as PPAI’s next president and CEO in December 2024. A dynamic, creative-minded leader, he brings more than two decades of experience in brand strategy, experiential innovation, and organizational growth. With a track record of delivering results across non-profit trade associations and for-profit sectors, Drew has earned recognition as a strategic thinker who drives growth and fosters an environment of collaboration and inclusivity. Most recently, he has served as Chief Experience Officer at Meeting Professionals International, where he oversaw seven core business units: marketing, creative strategy, membership, events, media, chapters, and volunteers.

Ellen Rissman is an Assistant Vice President of Policy and Communications in the Economic Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. In that position, she manages a team providing timely policy analysis, advice, and communications support to the President and other senior executives at the Chicago Fed and is actively engaged in public outreach efforts. Her primary research interests include self-employment and entrepreneurship, structural change in the labor market, and wage and price dynamics. Her research has been published in the Journal of Monetary Economics and the Journal of Labor Economics and has also been featured in Economic Perspectives and Chicago Fed Letter—the Chicago Fed’s research periodicals. In addition, she closely follows national and regional developments in government spending and revenues.

Rissman joined the Chicago Fed in 1985 as a Research Economist. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and a Master’s and Doctorate in Economics from Northwestern University. Rissman has taught for many years at Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies in the Master of Public Policy and Administration program.

Ellen Tucker, CAE, MAS, is the Vice President of Revenue and Expositions at PPAI and has been with the Association for over 10 years.  She spearheads PPAI’s entire revenue stream and marketing, oversees professional development initiatives and orchestrates the industry’s largest trade show, The PPAI Expo.

Kara Keister, MBA, MAS, Promise Keeper at Social Good Promotions, started her promotional professional career on the distributor side 14 years ago in sales.  She was on the OPPA Board in 2015 and served as President of the Board 2017-2019.  Kara has participated in LDW and LEAD, and was elected to the RAC Board in 2020, playing a pivotal role in the shift from RAC to the Regional Relations Committee.  In 2022, Kara was appointed to the PPAI Board of Directors as the RRC Delegate.

Lindsey Davis, MAS, is the Director, Sales & Professional Development at PPAI. She previously served as president of Solar Advertising, a promo supplier founded by her parents, and lead the company’s successful purchase by Raining Rose where she was the Director of Sales. Lindsey has served on the Promotional Products Education Foundation’s board of trustees and the PPAI Board, before joining the association’s staff in 2022.

As CEO of Koozie Group, Pierre’s focus on building a dynamic culture that embraces innovation and empowers people to deliver meaningful results. His leadership philosophy combines long-term strategic thinking with a hands-on approach to execution, ensuring alignment across all facets of the business to support sustainable growth and market leadership. With extensive international experience and a deep understanding of private equity-backed environments, he thrives in fast-paced settings where transformative solutions are essential.

Pierre attended NEOMA Business School from 1997 to 2000 where he obtained a degree in Finance, Controlling and Supply Chain. Prior to that, Pierre studied Mathematics-Physics at Aix-Marseille University from 1995 to 1997.  Additionally, Pierre obtained a WSET Level 3 certification from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust in 2014 and is an Introductory Sommelier since 2022.

In the midst of the chaotic forces impacting business and the economy, Ron Insana delivers clear insights business leaders and financial professionals can use to make smarter decisions. A pioneer in television financial news reporting, Ron is currently senior analyst and commentator at CNBC. He also hosts The Market Score Board Report, a daily nationally syndicated radio program. Ron had a front row seat to the transformative AI revolution during his time as CEO of iFi AI, an AI-powered stock research platform created in partnership with IBM watsonx. He is also founder and CEO of The Insana Entertainment Group, a film and TV production company. Ron is author of four books on investing and financial markets dynamics. In his speeches, Ron makes sense of the business, economic, technological, and political news – distilling it into actionable insights his audience can use to navigate change, protect what they have, and spot fresh opportunities. Besides keynoting, he is also an outstanding moderator and interviewer.

Ron’s career in financial reporting was a total accident. He had graduated from college with a degree in film production when a producer friend at the Financial News Network hired him on as a freelance producer in 1984. FNN was the first television network devoted exclusively to financial news. One day in 1985 the network’s only two anchors got sick on the same day and Ron found himself on the air for a full eight-hour shift. With that, Ron’s financial broadcasting career was born. When the Financial News Network merged with CNBC in 1991, Ron became a regular anchor there and a frequent presence on other NBC News shows.

Ron was named one of the “Top 100 Business News Journalists of the 20th Century” and was nominated for a news and

documentary Emmy for his role in NBC’s coverage of 9/11.

His four books on Wall Street, include: TrendWatching: Don’t Be Fooled by the Next Investment Fad, Mania, or Bubble; The Message of the Markets: How Financial Markets Foretell the Future–and How You Can Profit from Their Guidance; Traders’ Tales: A Chronicle of Wall Street Myths, Legends, and Outright Lies; and How to Make a Fortune from the Biggest Bailout in U.S. History: A Guide to the 7 Greatest Bargains from Main Street to Wall Street.

Ron is a highly regarded lecturer on domestic and global economics, financial markets, and economic policy issues. Ron

graduated with honors from California State University at Northridge.

Tim Howe is the Chief Operating Officer at Spectrum Designs, where he brings global experience, big-picture strategy, and a relentless drive for impact to everything he does.

Originally from Mid Wales, Tim’s story with Spectrum’s co-founder Patrick began back in their school days at Llanfyllin High School.

After earning a law degree from King’s College London, Tim went on to complete a Master’s in Public Administration at LIU Post, specializing in Non-Profit Management. From London to Luxembourg, he’s worked across Europe in a wide range of industries, sharpening his ability to lead complex teams, streamline operations, and drive sustainable growth.

Under Howe’s leadership, Spectrum Designs has expanded its impact significantly. In 2024, the organization achieved a historic milestone by generating over 69,000 hours of paid employment and welcoming 10 new team members. The company’s social media presence also grew substantially, with one video reaching over 25 million views and its accounts gaining more than 100,000 followers. Additionally, Spectrum Designs earned certification from the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership, becoming the only nonprofit to achieve this distinction and demonstrating its commitment to environmental sustainability.

At Spectrum Designs, Tim guides Managers and Department Heads while championing operational excellence and helping hit ambitious sales and growth targets.

A recognized leader in the promotional products industry, Tim holds the Master Advertising Specialist (MAS) designation and has received numerous accolades, including SAAGNY’s Rising Star Award (2017), PPAI’s National Rising Star Award (2018), and a double 40 Under 40 nod from SAAGNY and the Business Council of Westchester (2021 & 2022).

Howe’s dedication to fostering inclusive employment opportunities has been recognized by major tech companies. He has represented Spectrum Designs at events hosted by Google and Microsoft, sharing best practices for creating neurodiverse workforces.

In addition to his role at Spectrum Designs, Howe co-authored the book “INKclusivity: Company Benefits of Disability Inclusion & How-to Implementation Guide for the Print Industry,” further advocating for the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in the workforce.

He is a proud member of the International Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration, He also serves on the Board of HII Tech, an innovative R&D incubator creating game-changing tools for people with disabilities and aging populations.