First reported on Monday in a PPB Newslink Breaking News alert, PPAI has announced its new board members—Chris Anderson, CEO of Braintree, Massachusetts-based supplier HPG; Denise Taschereau, co-founder and CEO of Vancouver, British Columbia-based distributor Fairware Promotional Products, and Melissa Ralston, chief revenue officer of Tampa, Florida-based supplier Koozie Group.
“We are thrilled to leverage Denise, Melissa and Chris’ talent, expertise and energy to further PPAI’s vision and mission,” says Todd Pottebaum, MAS+, PPAI board chair.
Anderson and Taschereau have been elected to the PPAI Board of Directors following approval of the slate by PPAI members in last month’s election; they will serve a four-year term. Ralston has been appointed to a two-year at-large director position on the PPAI board. All three new directors will begin their terms immediately following The PPAI Expo 2022 in January.
“The new board members bring diverse skill sets and experiences to strengthen the board and have input for staff as we guide the Association through these ever-changing times,” says Ira Neaman, MAS, chair of the PPAI Leadership Advisory Committee and immediate past chair of the PPAI board. “Denise brings an exceptionally strong background in ESG [environmental, social and corporate governance] as well as being a principle with distributorships in both the U.S. and Canada. Chris has been a successful entrepreneur and grown his first business to become a head of a top supplier company. Melissa has an extensive sales and marketing background and that brings a lot of reach and insight from both supplier and distributor members. They all share a mindset to strengthen and grow all members’ businesses as well as a demonstrated knowledge and passion for the industry.”
Anderson joined the promotional products industry in 2002 with supplier HandStands and became president of the company in 2009 and CEO in 2010. Under his leadership, HandStands expanded its distribution into 138 countries and closed multiple strategic acquisitions, including the sale of the business to HPG in 2018. Anderson became CEO of HPG in 2019.
Taschereau launched Fairware after realizing how difficult it was to source promotional merchandise that reflected the social and environmental priorities of the many brands and organizations she admired. Previously, Taschereau oversaw the Mountain Equipment Co-op’s national environmental programs, community grant-making and ethical sourcing programs, and wrote their award-winning first Sustainability Report. She is currently a board member of PromoCares, an industry group driving awareness and education around sustainability issues in the promotional products industry.
Ralston has been in the promotional products industry for more than 15 years with global leadership roles across marketing, product management, sourcing and sales. In addition to her roles with two different promotional products suppliers, she has worked in multiple industries and served on multiple boards. She currently sits on a distributor’s diversity and inclusion board and is the executive sponsor for Koozie Group’s “Keep It. Give It.” Social Impact & Sustainability task force.
PPAI’s board is the Association’s governing body and plays a major role in directing its strategic activities, adopting policies and approving budgets to carry out the work of the Association.
