The Tee Hamilton Creators Award honors the legacy of Tee Hamilton, a founding chef and beloved member of the promo industry who passed away in 2020 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Through it, PromoKitchen invests in individuals who embody a bold and generous creative spirit. It is designed to assist industry professionals in expanding their skills, pursuing new ideas, and challenging conventional approaches through access to education, tools, and career development opportunities.

“This award inspires me to continue pushing boundaries, educating others, and helping promo professionals see what’s possible when creativity is treated as an essential part of the process rather than an afterthought,” says Fritz. She expressed gratitude to PromoKitchen for the recognition and the opportunity to carry forward Hamilton’s legacy through her work in the industry.

As distributors grow, they often face mounting challenges tied to expanding client bases, rising order volume, and increasing internal coordination across teams. This transition can strain decision-making and alignment, especially when businesses outgrow founder-led structures. The partnership aims to address this gap by offering access to experienced fractional leadership, enabling companies to introduce more structured processes and operational discipline without significantly increasing overhead.

“This partnership reflects how we think about building the commonsku ecosystem—surrounding our distributors with best-in-class partners who solve real problems at each stage of growth,” says David Shultz, chief partnerships cfficer at commonsku. McNamee brings more than 20 years of industry experience, helping distributors strengthen sales strategy, improve accountability and establish scalable systems, with her services now available to commonsku users through the platform.

A central announcement was the launch of HALO Atlas, an AI-powered intelligence platform intended to help users locate information, summarize content, draft responses and navigate HALO systems more efficiently. The company also outlined expanded capabilities across several areas, including uniform and apparel solutions, print-on-demand storefronts, centralized sales resources and enhanced creative and merchandising services, alongside new incentives to support high-growth opportunities.

Programming included a series of industry-focused discussions with business and brand leaders, addressing topics such as brand-building, supplier collaboration and the evolving role of merchandise and physical touchpoints in customer engagement. HALO CEO Jim Hilt underscored the broader strategy, stating, “Brands today don’t come to life through any single product or campaign. They come to life in the world around these — through the connected expressions people can see, feel, use, and carry with them.” Collectively, the initiatives reflect HALO’s emphasis on developing infrastructure to support the next phase of brand experience and engagement.

Ackerman brings more than 25 years of experience in sales leadership, revenue strategy and business development within the promotional products industry. Prior to joining Pro Towels, he served as vice president of sales and strategy at LBU, where he led revenue growth initiatives and developed high-performing sales teams. His background spans enterprise sales, national account development, channel partnerships and go-to-market strategy execution, positioning him to guide the company’s evolving sales approach.

“Thom is a dynamic, results-driven leader with a proven ability to elevate sales organizations and drive meaningful growth,” says Kevin Nord, chief executive officer of Pro Towels. In his new role, Ackerman will focus on developing and executing the company’s national sales strategy, leveraging technology and data insights to identify trends and scaling a high-performing sales team. Ackerman said he is focused on continuing the company’s momentum, noting his goal to build on its existing foundation and support long-term customer success.

The proposal customization feature allows distributors to tailor client-facing materials to reflect their brand identity through editable colors, fonts and layouts, with the option for deeper customization at the CSS level. Client selections flow automatically into quotes and sales orders, eliminating the need for re-entry and reducing the likelihood of errors. Additionally, the updated online order approval system enables clients to review and approve orders, including artwork proofs, through a single link. Responses are typically returned within a day and are automatically logged for visibility and accountability.

The Syncore and Outlook integration is designed to help sales teams manage communications more efficiently by bringing contact data, follow-ups and communication logs directly into their email environment. Emails are logged automatically, and new contacts can be created instantly from within Outlook. According to Matthew Cromar, chief product officer at Facilisgroup, “As traditional retail brands continue to make it easier to buy online, your clients will expect the same level of fast ordering convenience… It’s becoming table stakes to stay competitive in the promo world.” Overall, the update is aimed at helping distributors move faster, improve daily operations and support profitable growth.