Amelia is the Vice President of Sales at PromoCorner and has been in the industry since 2012. She's spent the majority of her career as a service provider helping suppliers deliver their stories to the right audience. Amelia hosts several industry shows including The Rundown, A. Madl's Closet, and PromoAM. Amelia also serves on her Regional board and has volunteered for several PPAI committees over the years.

Anne is the director of member engagement. She is responsible for guiding PPAI’s legislative and government relations efforts—including taking a contingent of PPAI members to Washington, DC, to advocate directly to US lawmakers on issues important to the promotional products industry. Anne also is responsible for member engagement—working to ensure PPAI members experience a meaningful and rewarding volunteer service. Anne overseas PPAI’s awards and recognition program—including the prestigious Pyramid Awards. Anne also manages the Association’s professional development efforts including the Women’s Leadership Conference, the North American Leadership Conference and the Product Responsibility Summit. Additionally, Anne oversees the Association’s product responsibility programs including the development of industry best practices.

Brittany David, MAS is the Chief Revenue Officer at SnugZ USA collaborating with the sales, marketing, and product development teams. She is an 18 year veteran of the promotional products industry and has been with SnugZ for thirteen years. David is an advocate for the industry and completed a five-year term on the PPAI Board of Directors, serving as Chairperson in 2019. As a proven and driven leader, she serves on many advisory groups and committees. David is a PPAI Fellow and most recently selected as the Supplier Visionary award and listed on the ASI Power 50 most influential people in the industry. Her creative firepower and engaging personality has landed her on Counselor Magazine's Hot List and she has been a panelist, guest speaker and keynote for many industry events. She currently volunteers for Adopt A Native and has a passion for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Cheron Coleman is Vice President Product Development & Global Supply at alphabroder, one of the nation’s largest suppliers of soft-goods and hard-goods and the industry’s first true “One-Stop-Shop” for promotional products. At alphabroder she leads the soft-goods team responsible for global sourcing, corporate compliance, production management, quality assurance & control, and international logistics for alphabroder’s’ Private Brand soft goods enterprise. With more than 20 years in the Promotional Products Industry, Cheron is known for her passion and commitment to developing global procurement strategies, driving revenue, relationship building, Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives, and international logistics. A proud PITT Panther alum she holds a BS in Business/Marketing from University of Pittsburgh, and, more recently she received her Diversity and Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University through their professional development and education certification program.

Dawn Olds, MAS, has been in management for over 20 years, spanning three focus areas: accounting, information technology and general operations. She has developed and managed project integration plans for dozens of successful acquisitions. Olds has been the executive sponsor for several Lean Six Sigma projects. Her career highlights also include mentoring and developing dozens of professionals within the HALO organization and promoting them. In addition to the development of people, Olds dedicates time to volunteering for Junior Achievement, is a mentor for a high school entrepreneur program, and is a member of the Women’s Professional Network. She holds a bachelor’s in information systems and an associate degree in accounting.

Ellen is responsible for driving the non-dues revenue for the association and leading the development, operations and execution of the association’s in-person and virtual tradeshows. Making up 50% of the association’s total revenue, non-dues revenue funds the association’s initiatives and includes revenue generated from tradeshows, publications, professional development events and other association products. The association’s tradeshows bring knowledge, community and a forum to do business to the promotional product industry. Ellen leads the interdepartmental collaboration that leads to, and manages the teams producing and selling, these industry-leading, award-winning events.

Erin Stafford is a marketing guru, burnout survivor, hyper-growth business leader and social psychologist. From working with the world's highest achievers throughout her 20+ year international career, being a Type A poster child herself and interviewing Olympians, start-up founders, Fortune 500 CEOs, leading researchers and celebrity coaches, Erin has seen firsthand how Type A personalities and constant over-achievement are coveted in the world of business, yet can lead to debilitating burnout.  After six years leading marketing for the country's largest healthcare staffing company where she led dozens of marketing professionals and helped the organization grow by 9x in two years, Erin has made it her mission to help leaders everywhere identify and break free from burnout so they can stay at peak performance for the long haul.  Erin's insights have been called upon by The Wall Street Journal, MSN, Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Style Network, The Orange County Register and a host of other global media outlets and organizations.

Jaime serves as the CEO/President of the National Speakers Association, and also chairs two Chief Executive groups and one Key Executive group for Vistage International. Prior to these roles, Jaime founded IntrinXec Management Inc., a leading association management company based in Minnesota, and served as its CEO until she sold the company at the end of 2018. In addition to her entrepreneurial role as visionary for the development and growth of IntrinXec, Jaime served as Executive Director and CEO to over a dozen different associations both locally and nationally during the 15-years she owned IntrinXec. While under Jaime's leadership, IntrinXec was named in the Top 100 Best Places to Work by Minnesota Business Magazine for six consecutive years, and Jaime was included in the magazine’s Real Power 50 list.

Jaime has a Masters degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, and is also a 2015 graduate of the EO Global Entrepreneurial Master’s Program. She served as the President of the AMC Institute from 2012 – 2013, and was a member of the Board from 2005 – 2014. She also served on the Board of the Preeclampsia Foundation from 2016-2018.

Jaime is a member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), the Florida Society of Association Executives (FSAE), Board Source, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and Associations North.

Jamie Watson, MAS, CPA is COO of Certified Marketing Consultants, a firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions in the promotional products industry.  She has been involved in financial consulting within the promotional products industry for 17 years.  Jamie has also filled several leadership and service roles within the industry including past WLC chair, Leadership Advisory Committee and Marketing and Research member. Outside of the industry Watson is passionate about the preservation and restoration of historic homes.  She is also an avid golfer, runner and reader.  Watson holds a Masters degree in Accounting and qualified as a CPA in the state of Indiana. She never wants to stop learning and most recently became accredited through the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts. 

Jennifer Harrison, MA, CFRE is the Executive Director of Dakota Woodlands, the only shelter serving families experiencing homelessness in Dakota County. Jennifer has over 18 years of experience in nonprofit management, fundraising, and communications. Prior to her role at Dakota Woodlands, Jennifer served as Development & Communications Director for the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery, and also held fundraising and communications positions at Angel Foundation, Animal Humane Society, Emerge Community Development, and Episcopal Community Services.  Jennifer has a Master of Arts in Nonprofit Management from Hamline University and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of St. Thomas with minors in Business and Sociology.  She has also earned the Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) professional credential.

Jenny Straub, CAS is the Director of Strategic Partnerships for Outdoor Cap. She has been a Promotional Products Industry veteran for over 21 years both as a Distributor and a Supplier. Jenny’s primary focus is fostering strong relationships as a connector with national accounts, wholesalers and buying groups. Jenny has been involved with PPAI Women’s Leadership Conference for years both as an advocate and speaker at two of the Conferences. Her excitement for educating Distributors on the value of headwear is proven through her webinars, presentations, and working tradeshows.  Originally from the Cincinnati area, she now works at the corporate office in Bentonville, AR where she lives with her husband Brian and their 13-year-old son Ian who love caps as much as she does. They also love biking, playing ping-pong, pickleball and visiting local breweries to play a competitive round of Rummy 500.

Over 17 years ago, Johanna began as an associate account manager at Axis, an award-winning promotional products agency. With her enthusiastic, fun-loving attitude and in-depth understanding of account management, she rose to her current role as VP of Sales, Midwest. Her impressive work ethic and love of her industry have opened the doors to key roles in many projects, such as new business development at Axis and opening and heading the Axis Chicago office.  Named to Advertising Specialty Institute’s “Hot List” in 2017, Johanna’s optimistic worldview and love of her work earned her the identifier of, “who we all want as the spokesperson for the promo industry”.

Despite her incredibly busy, rewarding work at Axis, Johanna makes time to chair PromoKitchen (2019) and sits on the PPAI (Promotional Products Association International) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force (2021). Johanna loves being involved as an active classroom rep at her children's school and with her volunteer community work, Johanna is involved in speaking engagements nationwide to discuss two topics near to her heart: best business practices and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Her passion for promotional products and persistence for excellence have created genuinely fulfilling career opportunities for years with no sign of slowing down in the future.

A 2021 addition to PPAI, Josh brings nearly two decades of journalistic experience to the Association’s media efforts. He oversees the newly rebranded PPAI Magazine, the newsletters PPAI Newslink and PromoPro Daily, as well as editorial content across the Association’s digital footprint. For their work in 2022, PPAI Media has been named a finalist for five awards by the American Society of Business Publications Editors. Formerly the editor-in-chief of SUCCESS magazine, a national newsstand publication that has served entrepreneurs and businesspeople for more than 125 years, Josh built and led a talented staff that competed for and won numerous national awards, including back-to-back editorial team of the year nominations. In 2017, the trade journal Folio: named him a 30-under-30 honoree and one of the 100 most influential people in the magazine industry.

Kate Alavez is the Chief Operating Officer at PromoShop, Inc. where she is responsible for people operations, human resources, and logistics. On a mission to reimagine the relationship between employees and employers, she is focused on creating outside‐the‐box solutions to business challenges and creating synergies between team members as a means to a happier workplace.

Before taking on her role as COO, Kate worked as the Director of Human Resources and Operations, gaining experience in infrastructure build and employment law.

Kate has been a strong supporter of community efforts and has served on boards for the Specialty Advertising Association of California, the Foundation Board (a 501c‐3 benefitting students of specialty advertising industry members), and The El Segundo Nursery School Group. Her passion for service and leadership began to bloom in her undergraduate years at Loyola Marymount University. She studied English while at LMU and worked on The Loyolan as well as served in leadership roles for Sigma Tau Delta and Kappa Alpha Theta.

I am a passionate go-getter who has learned to ask questions and never take no for an answer.  I started my promotional professional career 12 years ago in distributor sales.  My role allowed me to use my marketing background and love of all things brand to become a top-level salesperson within the company and eventually birth and grow Social Good Promotions. I served as a volunteer on regional industry Boards in an executive capacity.  After my tenure as regional board President, I was elected to the Regional Affiliate Council where I have played an integral role in advancing the way regional associations will operate within the promotional products industry moving forward.

I am a self-proclaimed nerd willing to learn and accept any challenge that comes my way.  I have survived injuries, breast cancer, and mental hurdles, all while advancing my career and building a successful small business.  I attribute that survival to my tribe, my amazing support system, and my work ethic.

I was named to the Promotional Products Association International Rising Star list in 2021. Our company has received PPAI Silver Pyramid Awards in the Social Responsibility Program and Digital Self-Promotion categories.  Social Good was named to the AIM Eco Leaders list in 2020 and we have consistently grown our gross sales by over 80% per year since our 2019 inception. 

My passion is for education, advocacy, and volunteerism for the promotional products industry and organizations close to my heart like Special Olympics, local schools, and leadership programs for youth.

Kelly McDonald is considered one of the nation's top experts in leadership, workplace culture, marketing, the customer experience and consumer trends.

Her client experience includes brands such as Toyota, State Farm, NASA, Kimberly-Clark, Nike, Harley-Davidson, Great Clips, Miller Beer, and Sherwin-Williams.

Kelly was named one of the "10 Most Booked Speakers in the U.S." and ranked #1 on the list of "25 Hot Speakers" by Successful Meetings Magazine.

She has been featured on CNBC, in Forbes, INC. Magazine, BusinessWeek, CEO World, Fast Company, and more.
She is the author of four bestselling books.

Kelly lives in Denver and when she's not on the road speaking, she enjoys boxing (yes, boxing, not kickboxing) - and shopping for high heels. She's also learning to play the cello.

Kevin Walsh has led an impressive career as a business leader and strategist in the Promotional Products industry for more than 35 years.

Serving as the President of Showdown Displays, Kevin devotes his time toward strategic planning, talent acquisition, innovation and stewarding the company culture and values. Through his commitment to this role, he has been a driving force in growing Showdown Displays to become the largest provider of portable displays in North America and a Top 15 supplier to the promotional industry. Kevin’s vision, and Showdown Displays’ success, personify both the entrepreneurial spirit and the evolving nature of the promotional industry.

Kevin joined Showdown Displays in 2011 originally as Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, helping to form the strategy and build the team, brand, and organization. Prior to Showdown, Kevin has held senior leadership roles in operations, product development, marketing and sales for Wrangler Jeans & Shirts, VF Imagewear/RedKap, LeePrintwear and New Buffalo Shirt Factory/ProPlayer.

Throughout his career Kevin has completed presentations at featured industry events to audiences in the thousands and has also been featured in several well-known industry publications, including Wearables Magazine, The Press and Promo+Promo Magazine.

Most recently, he was recognized by Counselor Magazine in its’ Power50 ranking, as #14 of the most influential members in the promotional industry.

Kevin has been a proud member of the PPAI Board of Directors since 2020 and is currently serving as the Board Chair as well as a member of the PPAI Executive Committee.

Through that journey, he counts his greatest accomplishments, being a loving husband to his high school sweetheart and a dedicated dad to two fantastic kids.

Laura loves people and has a driving desire to understand their behavior. This applies to her teenagers as well as to customers. She’s got no solution to the teenage problem (unfortunately), but throughout her career, she’s been working to understand customer behaviour. Advancing through progressively more senior roles in Sales, Marketing and Operations within Kimberly-Clark, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Ash City and now alphabroder, she has researched and interacted with consumers and customers at many points along their purchase journeys. She’s now thrilled to be leveraging all her experience to date in leading alphabroder’s CX initiatives.

Lori Bolton has been in the Promotional Products industry for 23 years, working for the Top 40 Suppliers; she is currently Director of Business Development at Totally Bamboo, based in San Marcos, CA. Before entering the Promotional Products space, she was an executive at NIKE in Entertainment Marketing, sharing cocktails with A-Listers in Hollywood and sports figures.

Lori is a Mom and has been married to her Husband, Steve, for 11 years. She has always had a passion for helping people find the best version of themselves, and when COVID struck, it was her sign to step up her game, and she became certified in Nutrition, Health, and Wellness, focusing on Hormone Health. Her love for outdoor activities is where she feels the most grounded and calm. 

As Vice President of Sales for BELLA+CANVAS, Megan Spire is the commercial leader of the business. She is responsible for driving the vision, strategy, and execution across multiple teams includes Sales, Planning & Analytics, Sales Operations, and Customer Success. With 11 years of experience in the promotional products industry, Megan has helped to shape the premium t-shirt landscape through education, storytelling, and relationship building. During her tenure at BELLA+CANVAS, it has grown into the largest and fastest growing premium basics brand in the industry. In 2022, she was ranked #21 on Counselor’s Power 50 list.

Mori Taheripour is a globally recognized negotiation expert, an award-winning faculty member at the Wharton School, a highly sought-after speaker, and the author of Bring Yourself: How to Harness the Power of Connection to Negotiate Fearlessly.  

With over 20 years of experience in negotiations, DE&I and sports business, Mori's impressive roster of clients includes Fortune 100 companies, major sports leagues, leading charitable institutions, and government agencies. Her current and past clients include Goldman Sachs Foundation, Google, Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), National Football League (NFL), The Timberland Company, United Parcel Service (UPS), US Agency for International Development (USAID), Wasserman, Wells Fargo, and the White House Fellows Program.   

Top business publications and media outlets have featured Mori's work, including ESPN, Forbes, INC., Marketplace, Money, NPR, and the Next Chapter by American Express. She regularly contributes to sports discussions on Wharton Business Daily on SiriusXM.  

Mori is a member of the Board of Directors for USA Track and Field (USATF) and the Advisory Board of the Sports Leadership & Administration Undergraduate Degree Program at UMass, Boston, Trustee Emeritus for the Women's Sports Foundation, and Commissioner for the Women's Refugee Commission. 

Mori earned her BA from Barnard College of Columbia University and MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Roni S. Wright, MAS, Vice President of supplier The Book Company, based in Delray Beach, Florida, is a 38-year veteran of the promotional products industry.  In her volunteer and leadership roles, Roni has served on the boards of PPAI, PPEF, the Regional Association Council (RAC), PPAF and YESAA, and was inducted into the PPAI Hall of Fame in 2020.  Over the past decade Roni has found a love of yoga.  She achieved her 200-hour certification in 2013 and has journeyed to India twice to study.

Sarah Goshgarian Unruh, CAS, currently serves as the Chief Rainmaker (CRO) of Sock101. A former educator that joined the promotional product industry in 2008, she is a strategic leader passionate about increasing revenue growth inside an organization that specializes in technology and relational equity. She currently serves on the Promotional Product Association Southwest (PPAS) Board and is an active member of CHIEF. Outside of work, she is a Momma of 5 that enjoys travel, working out, an excellent tequila, and a flavorsome meal. Her mantra is: Life is about adventure & creating memories with those you love.

Taylor Borst is Director of Marketing, Events & Public Relations for American Solutions for Business. Joining the print and promo industry in 2015, she specializes in social media, promotional products, and supplier relations. Taylor is the 2023 President of UMAPP, Sous Chef with PromoKitchen, featured #3 on PPAI’s 2023 #Online18 and was a 2019 PPB Rising Star.